Teratogenically induced congenital aphakia

Abstract

Forty-five offspring of pregnant DBA mice treated with a single large dose of vitamin A were serially sectioned. Nearly all of the young had bilateral “typical” retinal coloboma with otherwise well-developed eyes. One of them, however, had more severe abnormalities, consisting of a microphthalmic left eye and an extensively malformed right one, in which all of the structures of the anterior segment were missing. It was postulated that the aphakia and accompanying ocular anomales were the consequences of total retinal coloboma, i.e., an exaggeration of the defect that occurred commonly, and that secondary destruction of the lens was responsible for its absence.