Species independence of eye lens dimensions in teleosts and elasmobranchs

The vertebrate eye lens grows incrementally, adding layers of elongated, tightly packed lens fiber cells at the outer margin of the lens. With subsequent growth, previously-deposited fiber cells degrade, leaving a region of fully denucleated and organelle-free cells which are responsible for the hig...

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Published in:PLOS ONE
Main Authors: Leifsdóttir, Rannveig Rögn, Campana, Steven E.
Other Authors: Tsikliras, Athanassios C.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0286388
https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0286388
id crplos:10.1371/journal.pone.0286388
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spelling crplos:10.1371/journal.pone.0286388 2024-05-19T07:37:09+00:00 Species independence of eye lens dimensions in teleosts and elasmobranchs Leifsdóttir, Rannveig Rögn Campana, Steven E. Tsikliras, Athanassios C. 2023 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0286388 https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0286388 en eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ PLOS ONE volume 18, issue 6, page e0286388 ISSN 1932-6203 journal-article 2023 crplos https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0286388 2024-05-01T07:00:08Z The vertebrate eye lens grows incrementally, adding layers of elongated, tightly packed lens fiber cells at the outer margin of the lens. With subsequent growth, previously-deposited fiber cells degrade, leaving a region of fully denucleated and organelle-free cells which are responsible for the high transparency and low light scattering characteristics of the lens. The objective of this study was to determine if the horizon separating the gelatinous outer cortex of the lens from its hardened interior occurred at a consistent location within the lens of several teleost and elasmobranch fish species, and could be linked to fiber cell morphology or function. A fixed ratio of 0.69±0.01 of hardened eye lens diameter (HD) to overall eye lens diameter (LD) was observed in a broad size range of Atlantic cod ( Gadus morhua ), haddock ( Melanogrammus aeglefinus ), thorny skate ( Amblyraja radiata ) and round ray ( Rajella fyllae ). The location of the hardened lens horizon was similar to that reported for optical plasticity and spherical aberration, but not that of fiber cell denucleation, suggesting that fiber cell dehydration continues after the loss of internal organelles. Our findings support a previous suggestion that the maintenance of optical quality during fish eye lens growth requires a precisely-fixed HD:LD ratio, while the ubiquity of a fixed ratio across fish taxa may suggest that many fish species possess a common refractive index profile. The linear relationship between HD and fish length should allow fish length to be backcalculated from the diameter of the isolated lens core, thus aiding research using isotope ratios of lens laminae or inner cores to reconstruct early life history events. Article in Journal/Newspaper atlantic cod Gadus morhua PLOS PLOS ONE 18 6 e0286388
institution Open Polar
collection PLOS
op_collection_id crplos
language English
description The vertebrate eye lens grows incrementally, adding layers of elongated, tightly packed lens fiber cells at the outer margin of the lens. With subsequent growth, previously-deposited fiber cells degrade, leaving a region of fully denucleated and organelle-free cells which are responsible for the high transparency and low light scattering characteristics of the lens. The objective of this study was to determine if the horizon separating the gelatinous outer cortex of the lens from its hardened interior occurred at a consistent location within the lens of several teleost and elasmobranch fish species, and could be linked to fiber cell morphology or function. A fixed ratio of 0.69±0.01 of hardened eye lens diameter (HD) to overall eye lens diameter (LD) was observed in a broad size range of Atlantic cod ( Gadus morhua ), haddock ( Melanogrammus aeglefinus ), thorny skate ( Amblyraja radiata ) and round ray ( Rajella fyllae ). The location of the hardened lens horizon was similar to that reported for optical plasticity and spherical aberration, but not that of fiber cell denucleation, suggesting that fiber cell dehydration continues after the loss of internal organelles. Our findings support a previous suggestion that the maintenance of optical quality during fish eye lens growth requires a precisely-fixed HD:LD ratio, while the ubiquity of a fixed ratio across fish taxa may suggest that many fish species possess a common refractive index profile. The linear relationship between HD and fish length should allow fish length to be backcalculated from the diameter of the isolated lens core, thus aiding research using isotope ratios of lens laminae or inner cores to reconstruct early life history events.
author2 Tsikliras, Athanassios C.
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Leifsdóttir, Rannveig Rögn
Campana, Steven E.
spellingShingle Leifsdóttir, Rannveig Rögn
Campana, Steven E.
Species independence of eye lens dimensions in teleosts and elasmobranchs
author_facet Leifsdóttir, Rannveig Rögn
Campana, Steven E.
author_sort Leifsdóttir, Rannveig Rögn
title Species independence of eye lens dimensions in teleosts and elasmobranchs
title_short Species independence of eye lens dimensions in teleosts and elasmobranchs
title_full Species independence of eye lens dimensions in teleosts and elasmobranchs
title_fullStr Species independence of eye lens dimensions in teleosts and elasmobranchs
title_full_unstemmed Species independence of eye lens dimensions in teleosts and elasmobranchs
title_sort species independence of eye lens dimensions in teleosts and elasmobranchs
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate 2023
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0286388
https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0286388
genre atlantic cod
Gadus morhua
genre_facet atlantic cod
Gadus morhua
op_source PLOS ONE
volume 18, issue 6, page e0286388
ISSN 1932-6203
op_rights http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
op_doi https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0286388
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