The Effects of Nutritional and Endocrine Factors on an Inherited Retinal Degeneration in the Mouse

Introduction  In 1951, Brückner described a strain of albino mouse in which the outer nuclear layer of the retina was absent, thus resembling the classical "rodless" strain of Keeler (1924, 1926). Both conditions show a simple recessive mode of inheritance and have been compared with human retinitis pigmentosa. Sorsby, Koller, Attfield, Davey, and Lucas (1954) and Tansley (1954) reported that in Brückner's strain the degeneration of the outer nuclear layer began at about 11 days after birth, while differentiation of the retina was still in progress. Tansley (1934, 1936) had earlier discovered that among normal rats a maternal diet containing not more than 2γ β-carotene per day affected the retinae of the sucklings. Growth of the outer limbs of the rods was retarded, and thinning occurred at the junction of the outer and inner limbs. Johnson (1939, 1943) showed that, in young rats fed on a diet highly deficient in