Emergence and development of immunoreactive cells in teleostean retinas during the perinatal period

We have used light-microscopical immunohistochemistry to investigate developmental changes of several neurochemical indicators in retinas of perinatal killifish and goldfish. Immunoreactive proliferating cell nuclear antigen (ir-PCNA/cyclin, a marker for replicating cells) was present in nuclei of all neuroblasts in the early monolayer stage, but was lost progressively in central-to-peripheral and proximal-to-distal order as the layers and cells of the mature retina appeared. The loss of ir-PCNA was slightly prior to the appearance of ir-TH (tyrosine hydroxylase), GAD (glutamic acid decarboxylase) and GS (glutamine synthetase) at the 4th embryonic day (E4) in both fish. Since hatching was earlier in goldfish (E5) than in killifish (E7), neurochemical maturation was evident at 2-3 days before hatching in killifish but not until around hatching in goldfish. Two markers, ir-somatostatin and protein kinase C, were detected by the 1st postnatal day (H1) in goldfish, but not in perinatal or adult killifish retinas. Thus the course of development of killifish and goldfish retinas is similar, but not identical. The validity of ir-PCNA as a marker for proliferating cells is confirmed by the coincidence of its disappearance with the appearance of neurochemical markers for mature, postmitotic retinal cells.