Retinal pigment epithelial cell transplants in retinal degeneration slow mice do not rescue photoreceptor cells.
OBJECTIVE
To determine if retinal pigment epithelial cells are in any way involved in the degeneration of photoreceptor cells in the retinal dystrophy mouse model, retinal degeneration slow (rds); to determine if normal retinal pigment epithelial cell transplants can affect outer segment development in the retina.


METHODS
Retinal pigment epithelial cells of neonatal normal pigmented C3H mice were isolated and transplanted into retinas of postnatal day 33 albino rds mice. Then eyes of 4-month-old rds mice, retinal pigment epithelial cell-transplanted and sham and non-treated control mice, were processed for light and electron microscopy and the thickness of the outer nuclear layer were measured and compared.


RESULTS
Measurements of outer nuclear layer thickness in the transplant and control groups revealed that normal retinal pigment epithelial cell transplants did not cause photoreceptor cell rescue in rds mice. In addition, outer segments were not seen in retinal pigment epithelial cell-transplanted rds retinas.


CONCLUSIONS
This study supports the conclusions of other investigators that the photoreceptor cell is the primary site of the genetic defect that results in retinal dystrophy in the rds mouse model.
Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
L
L
Li
H J
HJ
Sheedlo
J E
JE
Turner
D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D051379:Mice; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D008817:Mice, Mutant Strains; D010786:Photoreceptor Cells / Q000473:pathology* / Q000502:physiology; D010857:Pigment Epithelium of Eye / Q000637:transplantation*; D012038:Regeneration; D012162:Retinal Degeneration / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery; D012374:Rod Cell Outer Segment / Q000473:pathology