THE CHANGING CELLULAR LOCALIZATION OF GAMMA- CRYSTALLINS IN THE LENS OF THE MOUSE EMBRYO, STUDIED BY IMMUNOFLUORESCENCE1
The appearance and distribution of gamma-crystallin in mouse embryos were studied with the indirect fluorescent antibody method. The gamma-crystallin was isolated by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. They were controlled for their specificity in immunoelectrophoresis. The first fluoresence with total lens antiserum was observed in the morphologically most advanced cells of the lens vesicle of 11-day embryo. Gamma-crystallin antisera did not react at this time, indicating that another structural protein was synthesized before the gamma-crystallin appeared. The first staining for gamma-crystallin was seen at the 12th fetal day in the anterior cytoplasm of the elongating primary lens fibers but not in the undifferentiated lens epithelial cells and equatorial zone cells. On the 13th day, gamma-crystallin was present throughout the formed primary lens fibers and the newly formed secondary lens fibers. In the areas of the equatorial cells and the growing fibers, the negative staining pattern was visible. In the epithelium, weak staining usually first appeared on the 15th fetal day and at the 16th day, faint staining was visible throughout the lens epithelium. The negative pettern of the germinal fiber near the equator was the staining on the 16th fetal day. The cell nuclei did not show any staining of the gamma-crystallins in the epithelium.
