Morphological and Proliferative Changes that Occur in Rat Retinal Progenitor Cells Following Incubation with Retinoic Acid and RPE-Secreted Proteins

Heath Allison K., Morphological and Proliferative Changes that Occur in Rat Retinal Progenitor Cells Following Incubation With Retinonoic Acid and RPE-Secreted Proteins. Master’s of Science (Cell Biology and Genetics), August 2006, 67 pp., 12 figures, bibliography. The principal objective of this research is to characterize virally-transformed rat retinal progenitor cells following stimulation by retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cell secreted proteins and retinoic acid. Progenitor cells were isolated from explants of postnatal rat RPE cell in vitro. Isolated progenitor cells were cloned, analyzed by microscopy and proliferation bioassays, to determine if cell proliferation occurred. The isolated progenitor cells were analyzed for differentiation by Western blot analyses and immunocytochemistry. The rat progenitor cells cultured in RPE secreted proteins proliferated, but did not differentiate as shown by the presence of nestin and vimentin in these cells. Retinoic acid caused other progenitor cells to proliferate and differentiate, which is seen through the bioassays and Western blot analyses.