Eur J Anat, 5 (2): 97-103 (2001)

Retinal glial cells in alcohol-treated chick embryos

Chmielewski C.E., Chmielewski J.A., Quesada A., Jimenez-Rubio A., Prada F.A.

Dpto. Ciencias Morfológicas, Facultad de Medicina, Avda. Sanchez Pizjuán, 9, 41009 Sevilla, Spain

ABSTRACT In the present study we used electron microscope techniques to analyze the effect of ethanol on the inner layers of chick embryo retinas. We show that these layers are very strongly affected by alcohol during development, with a delay in differentiation, a considerable degree of destructuring of the inner layers, accompanied by a loss of the inner prolongations of Müller cells, and the glial cells' location at the retinal inner layers (inner plexiform layer and optic nerve fiber layer) replacing these degenerated inner prolongations. We performed a count and statistical study of the axonal loss from the optic nerve fiber layer of the retinas of ethanol-treated embryos and observed a loss of total axons, mostly of myelinic axons.

Keywords: alcohol, alcohol oxidation, alcoholism, animal cell, animal experiment, animal model, animal tissue, article, cell damage, cell differentiation, cellular distribution, chick embryo, controlled study, electron microscopy, embryo, embryotoxicity, glia cell, microscopic anatomy, Mueller cell, myelination, nerve fiber, nerve fiber degeneration, nonhuman, optic nerve fiber, retina bipolar ganglion cell, retina cell, retina inner plexiform layer, statistical analysis