Fate of DNA from retinal cells dying during development: uptake by microglia and macroglia (Müller cells)

R Egensperger, J Maslim, S Bisti, H Holländer… - Developmental Brain …, 1996 - Elsevier
The TUNEL technique of labelling fragmenting DNA was used to examine cell death in the
developing retina of the rabbit, rat and cat. TUNEL-labelled structures included the still-intact
nuclei of retinal cells and smaller, strongly labelled bodies interpreted as fragments of
disintergrating nuclei (apoptotic or pyknotic bodies). With confocal microscopy, the
cytoplasm around labelled nuclei was observed to be labelled, suggesting that DNA
fragments spread into the cytoplasm of the dying cell. Also observed were cells whose …