Sequential scanning electron microscopic analyses of normal and spontaneously occurring abnormal ocular development in C57B1/6J mice.

Embryos of C57B1/6J mice were examined grossly, and by light and scanning electron microscopy on days 8 through 19 of gestation. Adult eyes were examined by slit lamp biomicroscopy and light microscopy. A spontaneous incidence of eye malformations including microphthalmia, microphakia, corneal opacity and anterior segment dysgenesis was observed at a rate of 13.2% in the adults and 10.8% in the day 14 embryos. Scanning electron microscopy demonstrates the complex series of coordinated changes in shape and tissue interrelationships observed in normal ocular development. Possible routes of abnormal ocular morphogenesis beginning as early as the time of optic vesicle formation are discussed.