Excessive Ultra-violet (UV) radiation causes oxidative damages and apoptosis in retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells. Here we tested the potential activity of SC79, a novel small molecule activator of Akt, against the process. We showed that SC79 activated Akt in primary and established (ARPE-19 line) RPE cells. It protected RPE cells from UV damages possibly via inhibiting cell apoptosis. Ak...

To test transdifferentiation of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells in suspension culture, chick embryonic RPE sheets and dissociated RPE cells were cultured for two months in a non-adherent dish for suspension culture. RPE cells, isolated as a sheet, aggregated immediately and remained the same size with their differentiated characteristics for two months. The presence of basic fibroblast g...

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) may cause severe loss of vision or blindness, particularly in elderly people. Exudative AMD is characterized by the angiogenesis blood vessels growing from underneath macula, crossing blood–retina barrier (which comprises Bruch’s membrane (BM) and retinal pigmentation epithelium (RPE)), leaking fluid into retina knocking off photoreceptors. Here, we simula...

PURPOSE To investigate the effect of carbachol on the phagocytosis of photoreceptor outer segments (OS) in cultures of normal Long-Evans and dystrophic Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) rat retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells. METHODS Retinal pigment epithelial cells from normal and RCS rats were grown in tissue culture. On reaching confluence, they were presented with OS suspended in Krebs-...

Ultraviolet radiation, especially UVA, can penetrate the lens, reach the retina, and induce oxidative stress to retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells. Even though it is weakly absorbed by protein and DNA, it may trigger the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and generate oxidative injury; oxidative injury to the retinal pigment epithelium has been implicated to play a contributory rol...

PURPOSE To use high-resolution and contrast imaging techniques to reveal microscopic retinal structures, including individual retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells, in human eyes with inherited retinal disease. METHODS Adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (AOSLO) was used to image the macular region in patients with retinal degenerative diseases, including two patients with cone-rod...

PURPOSE To investigate the role of RPE cell-cell contact in vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) protein expression in cultures of primary human RPE (hRPE) cells and a human RPE cell line (ARPE-19). METHODS Two in vitro methods, scratching and micropatterning, were used to control the physical dissociation of RPE cell-cell junctions. Scratching was performed by scoring monolayers of RPE ...

PURPOSE To improve our understanding of how retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells behave in vivo and to establish similarities with dedifferentiation and adaptive events observed in RPE cells cultured under simulated intraocular pathologic conditions. At the same time, to examine the origin of epithelioid-shaped and fibroblast/fusiform-shaped cells in epiretinal membranes (ERM) from proliferat...

The optic vesicle comprises a pool of bi-potential progenitor cells from which the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and neural retina fates segregate during ocular morphogenesis. Several transcription factors and signaling pathways have been shown to be important for RPE maintenance and differentiation, but an understanding of the initial fate specification and determination of this ocular cell...

In a previous study, an antigen consisting of proteins secreted by retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells was injected into a sheep and the specificity of the resulting antiserum was shown by Western blotting and its effects on retinal development were determined in vitro and in vivo. In the present study, the distribution of these secreted proteins was determined by light microscopy immunocyto...