Figure 6.

Ultrastructure of eye tissue and cultured skin melanocytes from C57BL/6J +/+ and C57BL/6J ep/ep congenic mice. (Upper) Sections through (a) ep/ep and (b) +/+ eyes showing the pigmented retinal epithelium (RPE). Ch, choroid; RBC, red blood cells; and M, melanosomes (Lower) Cultured skin melanocytes from (c) ep/ep and (d) +/+ mice. Large melanosomes (macromelanosomes) are seen in the choroid and cultured melanocytes from ep/ep mice, which may be derived from fusions of smaller vesicles. Retinal melanocytes from ep/ep exhibit smaller melanosomes than their wild-type controls and are more unevenly pigmented. All panels are shown at the same magnification. (Bar = 2 μm.)