Expression data in the developing human retina at 19-20 weeks' gestation

The retinas of simian primates include a specialized, cone-rich, macula which regards the central visual field and mediates high acuity and colour vision. A prominent feature of the macula is the fovea centralis - a 1 mm-wide, avascular depression in the inner retinal surface that corresponds with a local absence of rods and a peak spatial density of cones in the outer photoreceptor layer. The arrangement of macular photoreceptors, and their specialized midget circuits, are the neural substrate for high resolution vision in primates. Macular-specific photoreceptor loss and abnormal blood vessel growth within the macula are the major causes of untreatable vision loss worldwide. However, the genes that regulate specialization of the macula, and the causes of its vulnerability to degeneration, remain obscure. Microarrays were used to compare gene expression between macula and non-macular regions during a critical phase of human retinal vascular development.

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Kozulin P, Natoli R, O'Brien KM, Madigan MC, Provis JM