Zebrafish Optic and Ocular branches

Contributors: Lydia Gregg MA, CMI, FAMI, David T. White PhD, Gerard A. Lutty PhD & Jeff S. Mumm PhD

Similar to humans, the developing zebrafish eye is supplied by the intraocular hyaloid vasculature, the superficial ciliary vasculature, and the morphologically distinct choroidal vasculature. Here we provide a summary of the development of these vessels based on an observational study in collaboration with the Mumm Lab in the Johns Hopkins Department of Ophthalmology funded by the Johns Hopkins Catalyst Award program. Time-lapse confocal microscopy datasets of the ocular vasculature in transgenic zebrafish lines were acquired in vivo. Segmentations of these high-resolution datasets were performed, and surface models were exported for 3D visualization.

Part 1: Introduction and Anatomical Overview

At 16hpf lateral plate mesoderm angioblasts differentiate into endothelial cells and arrange to create the first cranial vessels including the primitive internal carotid artery, or ICA, and the cranial division of the primitive ICA, which begins to form at approximately 18-20 hpf (Isogai et al., 2001) (Proulx et al., 2010). The left dorsal aorta is also visible with the rudiment of the first aortic arch. The base of the optic artery appears as a rostro-lateral branch from the base of the cranial division of the ICA, near the future location of the choroid fissure (Hashiura et al., 2017). The primitive ICAs branch from the first aortic arch, and course cranially to join at the midline via the basal communicating artery. The primitive ICAs then continuing to their cranial division and the optic arteries (Isogai et al., 2001) (Proulx et al., 2010).

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Part 2: Hyaloid Vasculature

At 20 hpf, the optic artery continues to traverse the choroid fissure, growing to the posterior aspect of the developing lens where it provides the hyaloid artery (Hashiura et al., 2017) (Hartsock et al., 2014). At approximately 21-22 hpf, the cranial division of the primitive ICA connects with the venous primordial midbrain channel, which is of venous origin and projects along the caudodorsal margin of the optic vesicle (Kaufman et al., 2015). The optic vein normally enters the eye through the choroid fissure at 20-22 hpf and forms a connection to the base of the optic artery, which drains into the primordial midbrain channel (Isogai et al., 2001) (Hashiura et al., 2017). The hyaloid vein grows from the optic vein to encircle the rim of the hyaloid artery as it forms the hyaloid basket around the developing lens (Hashiura et al., 2017).

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Part 3: Choriocapillaris and Ciliary Vasculature

The choriocapillaris is a dense, sheet-like network of vasculature located on the outer retina. It begins to form at approximately 18 hpf (Ali et al., 2019), but was not visualized in our datasets until at 48 hpf. The superficial ciliary vasculature typically begins to grow at 22 hpf, starting with the emergence of a small branch from the primordial midbrain channel, called the dorsal ciliary vein, which sits in the posterior groove of the optic cup (Kaufman et al., 2015) (Isogai et al., 2001) (Hashiura et al., 2017).

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Compare to Human Development

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