Orthogonal arrays of intramembranous particles in the Müller cell and astrocyte endfoot membrane of rabbit retina. Postnatal development and adulthood.

The freeze-fracture technique was applied to the retina of early postnatal and adult rabbits to investigate the distribution and density of orthogonal arrays of intramembrane particles (OAP) within the vitread endfoot membranes. In adult animals, two distinct types of endfoot membranes were observed within the central myelinated retina but not in the retinal periphery. One type of endfoot membranes contained low density of individual 'background' particles, and a more or less stripe-like pattern of OAP; this type was found only within the myelinated centre and is concluded to represent membranes of retinal astrocytes. The other type of endfoot membranes was rather tightly packed with individual 'background' particles, and contained OAP which formed rows only at the margins of footplates; this kind of membrane was found throughout the whole retina, and represents Müller cell endfeet. The density of OAP in both types of endfoot membranes was higher within the central myelinated retina than in the Müller cell endfeet of the retinal periphery. In early postnatal retinae, a discrimination between the two types of endfeet was impossible. At the day of birth, only very few OAP were observed, and the majority of footplates were free of OAP. Within the next 10 days, both density and size of OAP were found to increase but fail to reach adult levels. Quantitative data are presented with the hope of providing a basis for future correlation with functional maturation of rabbit retinal glia.