Distribution of 5'-nucleotidase in the developing mouse retina.

The distribution of 5'-nucleotidase was investigated in the developing mouse retina and also in the retina of the adult mouse and rat using a monospecific antibody directed against 5'-nucleotidase isolated from bovine brain. Already at the stage of the formation of the eye cup strong immunofluorescence was found at the ventricular surface. Throughout development the enzyme remained associated with the outer surface of the retina that corresponds to the former inner surface of the eye vesicle. During embryonic development immunoreactivity was also associated with the proliferating cellular elements which at that stage cannot yet be attributed to a defined retinal cell type. In the adult stage the surface-located retinal immunoreactivity is assigned to Müller cells with strongest fluorescence at the apical and microvilli containing cell compartment. Also the cellular processes in the outer nuclear layer, the outer plexiform layer and to a minor extent the inner nuclear layer revealed immunoreactivity. 5'-Nucleotidase immunoreactivity was found at the ventricular surface also of the adult brain. There it was associated with the apical surface of ependymal cells. Our results suggest that 5'-nucleotidase is of general functional importance for the metabolism of nucleotides at the ventricular surface of the retina as well as the ventricles of the brain, a feature that is maintained throughout development. Müller cells thus share not only functional characteristics of astrocytes and oligodendrocytes, as previously revealed, but also of ependymal cells to which they are closely related.