Glutamine fructose-6-phosphate aminotransferase and glycoprotein synthesis in the developing chick eye.

Glutamine fructose-6-phosphate aminotransferase is an essential enzyme in the synthesis of glycoproteins and other complex carbohydrates. The specific activity of this enzyme was measured in posterior ocular tissues of the chick embryo from day 6 of development until hatching. The enzyme is present at high concentrations in the early embryo, then decreases 15-fold by day 9 in both retina and retinal pigment epithelium (PE). Thus, aminotransferase activity is highest during the period when retinal cells are migrating and beginning to differentiate; these maturational events may require cell-surface glycoproteins. On day 17-18 of chick embryo development, the neural retina suddenly adheres firmly and irreversibly to the underlying PE. Aminotransferase activity and glucosamine incorporation into retinal macromolecules were examined near this critical time, as were the effects of glycoprotein-synthesis inhibitors upon retinal adhesion. No evidence was found for involvement of complex carbohydrates (on cell surfaces or in the interphotoreceptor matrix, IPM) in formation of retinal adhesion in the chick. Histological studies show an absence of glycosaminoglycans in the IPM of embryonic chicks (at all stages) and of adult chickens, although these compounds are present in mammalian matrix.