Porcine corneal epithelial cells consist of high- and low-integrin beta1-expressing populations.
OBJECTIVE
Immunohistochemically, all cells in the porcine corneal epithelium, from the superficial to the basal layer, express integrin beta1. Flow cytometric study has shown that they comprise integrin beta1 high-expressing (beta1 2+) and low-expressing (beta1+) populations. This study was undertaken to determine their proliferation characteristics.


METHODS
Epithelial cells from porcine corneas were sorted and labeled with anti-integrin beta1 antibody and a fluorescent-dye-conjugated secondary antibody. The fluorescent intensity of labeled cells was analyzed and beta1 2+ and beta1+ cells were cultured in an adhesive-coated culture plate.


RESULTS
Flow cytometry demonstrated that the epithelial cells comprised two distinct populations with a similar ratio throughout the cornea. Whereas beta1 2+ cells attached and grew to confluence in the plate, beta1+ attached only transiently to the plate and exhibited minimal growth.


CONCLUSIONS
The data indicate that the porcine cornea contains two distinct populations of epithelial cells, one exhibiting high and the other low integrin beta1 expression. The observation that beta1 2+ cells had greater growth potential suggests that they may represent an enriched population of transit-amplifying cells.
Endo
Ken-ichi
K
Department of Ophthalmology, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan. kendo@opth.kpu-m.ac.jp
Nakamura
Takahiro
T
Kawasaki
Satoshi
S
Kinoshita
Shigeru
S
D000818:Animals; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D002455:Cell Division; D002469:Cell Separation; D019573:Epithelium, Corneal / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D019084:Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect; D019012:Integrin beta1 / Q000378:metabolism*; D013234:Stem Cells; D013552:Swine
D019012:Integrin beta1