Serum-Deprivation: A Model for Lens Cell Differentaition

Ong, Marcia., Serum-Deprivation: A Model for Lens Cell Differentiation. Master of Science (Biomedical Sciences), December, 2001, 154 pp., 2 tables, 36 illustrations, bibliography, 91 titles. The purpose of thisi project was to develop an in vitro cell culture system in which mammalian lens epithelial cells differentiate into lens fiber cells. METHODS. Primary cultures were grown from lens epithelium explants obtained from bovine lenses and propagated in Minimum Essential Medium containing 10% calf serum. Subsequently, cell cultures were maintained in MEM supplemented with either 4%, 3% or 1% calf serum and left undisturbed for 21 days. Immunofluorescence experiments and Western Blot analysis were performed in order to determine expression of lens fiber-specific protein expression within these cells. RESULTS. The following lens fiber-cell markers, MP-26, beta and gamma crystalline and filensin were expressed in immunofluorescence micrographs and Western Blots, and cells propagated in 10% serum (high) did not express the fiber cell markers. CONCLUSIONS. Cultured lens epithelial cells maintained in reduced serum conditions differentiate into fiber cells.