June 2023
Volume 64, Issue 8
Open Access
ARVO Annual Meeting Abstract  |   June 2023
Lens epithelial cell differentiation to fiber cells is accompanied by actomyosin network remodeling during formation of meridional rows with precisely aligned and hexagonally packed cells.
Author Affiliations & Notes
  • Sadia Islam
    Biological Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, United States
  • Velia M Fowler
    Biological Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, United States
  • Footnotes
    Commercial Relationships   Sadia Islam None; Velia Fowler None
  • Footnotes
    Support  NIH R01 Grant EY017724
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science June 2023, Vol.64, 4392. doi:
  • Views
  • Share
  • Tools
    • Alerts
      ×
      This feature is available to authenticated users only.
      Sign In or Create an Account ×
    • Get Citation

      Sadia Islam, Velia M Fowler; Lens epithelial cell differentiation to fiber cells is accompanied by actomyosin network remodeling during formation of meridional rows with precisely aligned and hexagonally packed cells.. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 2023;64(8):4392.

      Download citation file:


      © ARVO (1962-2015); The Authors (2016-present)

      ×
  • Supplements
Abstract

Purpose : Lifelong lens transparency and proper fiber cell differentiation depends on the precise alignment and hexagonal packing of epithelial cells into meridional rows at the lens equator. We have shown previously that mutations in non-muscle myosin IIA (NMIIA) result in misaligned meridional rows, indicating a function for NMIIA in epithelial cell alignment and hexagonal packing. To determine how NMIIA controls epithelial cell hexagonal packing, we investigated NMIIA:actin filament (F-actin) network organization prior to and during the shape transformations that take place during epithelial cell differentiation and meridional row formation in mouse lenses.

Methods : We used reporter knock-in mice with enhanced GFP (eGFP) fused to the head domain of the NMIIA heavy chain to localize NMIIA. Lens whole mounts were stained with fluorescent phalloidins (F-actin) and Hoechst (nuclei) and imaged by confocal microscopy with airyscan resolution to investigate actomyosin organization.

Results : We observed distinct GFP-NMIIA:F-actin networks in lens epithelial cells prior to and after they become hexagonally arranged in meridional rows. In the equatorial epithelial cells, GFP-NMIIA colocalizes with membrane-adjacent cortical F-actin networks in the basal, mid-lateral and apical domains of the cells. GFP-NMIIA also colocalizes with parallel F-actin stress fibers at the basal domain, as well as with F-actin polygonal arrays at the apical domain. In contrast, in meridional row cells, the GFP-NMIIA colocalizes with parallel and radially oriented F-actin stress fibers at the basal domain, and is enriched along the anterior-posteriorly oriented lateral cell membranes, but depleted from the equatorially-oriented lateral cell membranes.

Conclusions : Lens epithelial cell shape transformations into meridional row cells are accompanied by complex reorganizations of NMIIA:F-actin networks. Future work will focus on comparing NMIIA:F-actin organization and activity in wildtype and NMIIA mutant mouse lenses during formation of meridional rows.

This abstract was presented at the 2023 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in New Orleans, LA, April 23-27, 2023.

×
×

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

Sign in or purchase a subscription to access this content. ×

You must be signed into an individual account to use this feature.

×