Establishment of epithelial lines from cryopreserved lenses and capsule-epithelial preparations.
OBJECTIVE
To determine if lens epithelial lines can be established from cryopreserved whole rabbit lenses and from cryopreserved capsule-epithelial preparations (CEPs).


METHODS
Lenses or freshly isolated CEPs were cryopreserved and subsequently thawed. Thawed whole lenses were cultured for 48 hours in growth medium and fixed, and whole mounts were examined for mitosis. In addition, CEPs were peeled from cryopreserved lenses and placed in tissue culture. Viability of cryopreserved cells was assessed measuring attachment efficiency and growth.


RESULTS
Whole mounts from cryopreserved lenses that were thawed and placed in organ culture in a serum-containing medium exhibited numerous mitotic figures. Freshly isolated CEPs that were cryopreserved and CEPs from cryopreserved lenses generated cell lines. Attachment efficiency was 90% within 3 hours of plating. When 50,000 cells from cryopreserved CEPs were cultured in growth medium, 10(6) cells were noted after 7 days of culture. The cells completed 27 population doublings and showed no sign of senescence.


CONCLUSIONS
Rabbit lens epithelial cell lines can be initiated from cryopreserved lenses or CEPs.
Department of Biological Sciences, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan 48309-4401.
J R
JR
Reddan
I C
IC
Misra
D C
DC
Dziedzic
D000818:Animals; D002455:Cell Division; D002460:Cell Line; D002470:Cell Survival; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D015925:Cryopreservation; D003470:Culture Media; D004847:Epithelial Cells; D007903:Lens Capsule, Crystalline / Q000166:cytology*; D007908:Lens, Crystalline / Q000166:cytology*; D008938:Mitosis / Q000502:physiology; D009924:Organ Culture Techniques; D011817:Rabbits; D014021:Tissue Preservation
D003470:Culture Media