The Expression of Bcl-2, Bax, and p53 Developmental Rat Eye

ABSTRACT

To investigate the tissue-specific and stage-specific expressions of porteins relatedto cell death or survival in development of rat eye, Bcl-2, Bax and p53 as well as PCNA were studied from 14th day of embryonic stage(E14) to 22th day of opstnatal stage(P22) every other day in Spragur-Dawley(SD) rats. Expression of these gene proteins was studied by immunohistochemistry. At E14, Bcl-2, Bax and PCNA were expressed on the surface ectoderm and anterior lens epithelium. p53 was highly expressed in theposterior lens epithelium and in the inner layer of retina. PCNA was highly expressed in the middle layer of retina. In postnatal stage, In the retina, Bax and PCNA were expressed throughout whole layers and p53 was stained in the middle layer, However, Bax, p53 and PCNA disappeared after P14, wherase Bcl-2 still remained by P22. In the lens, p53 expression was detected by P14 and then disappeared. In the iris. Bax and PCNA were highly expressed between P0 and P22. These results indicate that Bcl-2, Bax and p53 may contribute to the development of rat eye. The expressions of Bcl-2, and Bax, p53 are not conducted step by step but overlapped and expressed in different stages depending on ocular tissue.