Figure 3.

The organization of the developing retina. Schematic picture of early retinal development. From the blastocyst which contains the pluripotent cell mass gastrulation and neurulation occur forming the neural plate. The eye field specifies at the medial region of the anterior neural plate and contains all the progenitors which go on to form all the neural-derived cell types and structures of the eye. Bilateral optic sulci develop from the eye field forming the optic vesicles which extend towards the surface ectoderm. The optic vesicles invaginate forming the two-layered optic cups and the lens vesicle forms and sits behind the surface ectoderm. The outer layer of the optic cup remains as a single cuboidal layer becoming the retinal pigment epithelium. The single inner layer of the optic cup proliferates and differentiates forming the multilayered neural retina. EF: eye field; CMZ: ciliary marginal zone.