title: Isolation and culture of rat cone photoreceptor cells.
abstract: In retinal diseases characterized by photoreceptor degeneration, the main cause of clinically significant vision loss is cone, rather than rod, loss. Photoreceptor apoptosis can be affected by the availability and/or delivery of neurotrophic proteins, and cultures of photoreceptors are valuable for studying these processes. In the present study, a technique was designed to purify cones to make it possible to screen for neuroprotective molecules. The present chapter describes a technique for preparing cultures of purified rat retina cone photoreceptors based upon panning with peanut agglutinin lectin, which selectively binds to cones. In addition, we describe a protocol for the purification and culture of retinal pigmented epithelial cells from postnatal rat.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Anesthesiology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy. stephen.skaper@unipd.it
authors.forename: Stephen D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Skaper
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D002469:Cell Separation / Q000379:methods*; D009414:Nerve Growth Factors / Q000378:metabolism; D019887:Peanut Agglutinin; D051381:Rats; D017949:Retinal Cone Photoreceptor Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D009414:Nerve Growth Factors; D019887:Peanut Agglutinin