Ultrastructural, Histochemical, Cytological Study of Retina of Aborted Fetus of Various Weeks of Gestation - an Anatomical Perspective with Implications on Patients with Retinitis Pigmentosa

Abstract

Aim: To study the ultrastructural, histochemical, cytological features of retina in aborted fetuses of different gestational age and its probable implication in the disease process of retinitis pigmentosa. Methodology: This is a prospective randomized cross sectional study that has been carried out in AIIMS Bhubaneswar from June 2017 to May 2019, jointly by the Department of Anatomy and Obstetrics and Gynaecology, AIIMS, Bhubaneswar, India, after proper institutional approval. Three fetuses from each trimester were taken into the present study; their retina was collected and subsequently sent for cytological, immunohistochemical and ultrastructural explorations. Detailed information from all explorations were collected and properly documented. Results:Fetuses whose retinas that have been shown to contain very few to no rod cells and short-sized cone cells might tend to develop retinitis pigmentosa after birth. Moreover, those cone cells have been shown to contain melanolysosome, phagosomes, autophagic vacuoles, and membranous whorls.

TABLE 1.

Fetal specimen characteristics

FIGURE 1.

Cytological study

FIGURE 2.

Immunohistochemical study

FIGURE 3.

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) study (photographs collected from nine fetuses)