vision/eye
• 8% of mutant eyes display corneal opacities at variable intensities
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• at P60, 60% of mutant lenses show subtle abnormalities near the putative cortical-nuclear boundary
• however, no lens opacities or overt cataracts are detected in most lenses even at the age of 6 months
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• 8% (9 of 108) of mutant eyes with corneal or lens opacities also display a persistent lenti-corneal stalk, similar to Peters anomaly
• 8 of 108 mutant eyes showed a lenti-corneal stalk in a unilateral manner; one mutant exhibited this defect in both eyes
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• at P60, bright field imaging revealed that a ring-like demarcation between the cortical and nuclear fiber cells is absent in most mutant lenses, unlike in control lenses
• at P30, SEM analysis showed that deep into the lens tissue mutant lenses display cortical fiber cell morphology in place of nuclear fibers
• at P0, wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) staining revealed a significantly reduced lens nucleus region relative to controls, suggesting fiber cell nuclear compaction defects
• at E12.5, E14.5 and E16.5, WGA staining intensity is higher in mutant lenses relative to control lenses, suggesting altered fiber cell membrane composition
• however, histological analysis revealed no obvious fiber cell or nuclear degradation defects at P30
• F-actin deposition is unaltered as shown by phalloidin immunostaining, suggesting normal fiber cell architecture
• no defects in lens epithelium, fiber or cell adhesion marker genes are noted at embryonic or postnatal stages
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