Embryonic development of the eye involves inductive interactions between the various components of the eye. These interactions imply the existence of pathways for communication and coordination, but the molecular mechanisms for information exchange have not as yet been elucidate. The general strategy of the proposed research is to use the alphaA-crystallin promoter to obtain lens-specific expression of growth factors that have been identified as potentially relevant for ocular development or differentiation.
The specific aims are to express proteins from the following growth factor families in the embryonic lenses of transgenic mice: 1) fibroblast growth factor (FGF) family 2) transforming growth factors and the developmental changes of the eye. Although acidic FGF and IG-I are thought to function through activation of tyrosine kinase receptors, the preliminary results in the transgenic eyes indicate that these growth factors do not cause the same changes in lenticular differentiation. In the future, theses transgenic eyes can be use to assess the divergent signal transduction pathways in order to begin to identify the critical components. The overall objective of these experiments is to gain insight into growth factor function and molecular regulation of normal development of the eye. A better molecular understanding of ocular morphogenesis will help guide the planning and implementation of strategies to help prevent or alleviate visual disorders and ocular birth defects.
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