Zhao S, Thornquist S C, Barnstable C J
Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520-8061, USA.
Brain Res. 1995 Apr 24;677(2):300-10. doi: 10.1016/0006-8993(95)00163-k.
Divergence of neural retinal and retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) lineages from the optic vesicle neuroepithelium starts at a very early stage of eye development. Partially or even fully differentiated RPEs of some vertebrate species are capable of transforming into neural retina. In the present study, we have shown that mammalian RPE possesses the ability to transdifferentiate into neural retina at early embryonic stages. If cultured in serum-free medium, presumptive rat RPE became pigmented and expressed a molecular marker of mature RPE. In the presence of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), cultured early embryonic rat RPE did not acquire pigment and grew to form retina-like multilayer structure containing neuronal cells and cells that express markers of retinal ganglion, amacrine and rod photoreceptor cells. The effects of bFGF occurred independently of effects on cell division and became irreversible after periods that varied with tissue age. This study has demonstrated that already differentiated embryonic rat RPE still retain the ability to become neural retina up to certain stage.
神经视网膜和视网膜色素上皮（RPE）谱系从视泡神经上皮的分化在眼睛发育的非常早期阶段就开始了。一些脊椎动物物种部分或甚至完全分化的RPE能够转化为神经视网膜。在本研究中，我们已经表明哺乳动物RPE在胚胎早期阶段具有转分化为神经视网膜的能力。如果在无血清培养基中培养，推定的大鼠RPE会着色并表达成熟RPE的分子标志物。在碱性成纤维细胞生长因子（bFGF）存在的情况下，培养的早期胚胎大鼠RPE没有获得色素，并生长形成含有神经元细胞以及表达视网膜神经节、无长突和视杆光感受器细胞标志物的细胞的视网膜样多层结构。bFGF的作用独立于对细胞分裂的影响，并且在随组织年龄而变化的时间段后变得不可逆。这项研究表明，已经分化的胚胎大鼠RPE直到特定阶段仍保留成为神经视网膜的能力。
