Reaggregation of embryonic chick retina cells: pigment epithelial cells induce a high order of stratification.

We report here that, in comparison to aggregates from retinal cells alone, addition of pigmented epithelial cells to retinal cells in rotary culture results in a pronounced increase of spatial order. A particularly high level of organization is found in about 15-20% of the aggregates. In these 'retinoids' the main layers characteristic of developing in vivo retinae can be distinguished in correct sequential arrangement on the basis of morphological criteria and by using acetylcholinesterase histochemistry [5, 6, 15], peanut agglutinin-lectin binding [11] and Lucifer Yellow staining [7-9].