title: In vitro differentiation of retinal pigment epithelium from adult retinal stem cells.
abstract: One of the limitations in molecular and functional studies of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) has been the lack of an in vitro system retaining all the features of in vivo RPE cells. Retinal pigment epithelium cell lines do not show characteristics typical of a functional RPE, such as pigmentation and expression of specific markers. The present study was aimed at the development of culture conditions to differentiate, in vitro, retinal stem cells (RSC), derived from the adult ciliary body, into a functional RPE. Retinal stem cells were purified from murine eyes, grown as pigmented neurospheres and induced to differentiate into RPE on an extracellular matrix substrate using specific culture conditions. After 7-15 days of culture, pigmented cells with an epithelial morphology showed a polarized organization and a capacity for phagocytosis. We detected different stages of melanogenesis in cells at 7 days of differentiation, whereas RPE at 15 days contained only mature melanosomes. These data suggest that our protocol to differentiate RPE in vitro can provide a useful model for molecular and functional studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Aruta
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Giordano
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: De Marzo
authors.forename: Antonella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Comitato
authors.forename: Graça
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Raposo
authors.forename: Emeline F
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Nandrot
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Marigo
mesh_terms: D053687:Adult Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D001681:Biological Assay; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D051379:Mice; D010587:Phagocytosis; D012160:Retina / Q000166:cytology*; D055213:Retinal Pigment Epithelium / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers