Postimplantation whole embryo culture: a new method for studying ocular development.

The molecular events involved in normal and abnormal eye development are of pivotal importance, but the living mammalian embryo during organogenesis is virtually inaccessible to the investigator. We describe a method of whole embryo culture applicable both to rat and to mouse. With these techniques, embryos in vitro develop normally through the crucial period of organogenesis, which includes early eye development. This method will enable us to manipulate the milieu in which the embryo develops, and so enable us to study the role of growth factors and other molecules in this important but hitherto inaccessible stage of ocular ontogeny.