Cell proliferation during the early stages of human eye development

The distribution as well as the ultrastructural and biochemical characteristics of proliferating cells in the human eye were investigated in five conceptuses of 5-9 postovulatory weeks, using morphological techniques and Ki-67 immunostaining. The Ki-67 nuclear protein was used as a proliferation marker because of its expression in all phases of the cell cycle except the resting phase (G0). The labelling indices of Ki-67-positive cells were analysed by means of the Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA test and the Wilcoxon matched-pairs test. In the 5th week, mitotic cells were the most numerous between the two layers of the optic cup, the optic cup and stalk, and between the lens pit and the surface ectoderm. During the 6th week, cells were observed in the lens epithelium covering the whole cavity of the lens vesicle as well as in the neuroblast zone and the pigmented epithelium of the retina. At later stages (7th-9th weeks), Ki-67-positive cells were restricted to the anterior lens epithelium, the outer neuroblast zone, and the pigmented retina. Throughout all stages examined, mitotic figures were found lying exclusively adjacent to the intraretinal space. Early in the lens pit, they were confined to the free epithelial surface, and later were facing the cavity of the lens vesicle. The proliferative activity was the most intensive in the 6th week, whereas it decreased significantly in the later stages. Additionally, when proliferative activities were compared, the peripheral retina appeared to be less mature than the central before the 9th week. In the earliest analysed stage, cell proliferation might be associated with the sculpturing of the optic cup and stalk, the cornea, and the lens. In the 6th week, the most intensive proliferation seems to be involved not only in the further morphogenesis of the optic cup and the lens vesicle but also in the retinal neurogenesis. At later stages, the decreased proliferation might participate in the neurogenesis of the outer neuroblast zone and the secondary lens fibre formation.