For the past several years this laboratory has been concerned with biochemical aspects associated with the development of the visual system. The anatomical and regenerative characteristics of the goldfish visual pathway provide a powerful model for developing strategies to study molecular processes which underlie developmental and regenerative events of this visual system. It is well established that when vision is interrupted by crushing or cutting the optic nerve there is a subsequent regrowth of the axons from the retinal ganglion cells and an orderly reinnervation of the tectum with return of vision. We recently discovered several proteins which are specific to the goldfish visual pathway and cannot be considered among the common structural proteins associated with the nervous system. Optic nerve crush results in a disappearance of these proteins. Upon optic nerve regeneration these proteins reappear and accumulate to normal levels. It is the aim of this research to characterize these retinotectal proteins with respect to their localization, synthesis, and chemical structure under conditions of degeneration and regeneration. Techniques employed are: two dimensional gel electrophoresis, immunohistofluorescence, and metabolic fate studies of radiolabeled precursors associated with their synthesis and possible transport. Our long term goal is to understand mechanisms and principles which define the role of proteins during the regeneration and reconnection process and to relate the results to developmental questions associated with synapse selection and formation. This is fundamental research which is related to the development of the visual system under normal and pathological conditions.
