In vitro differentiation of cells of the lens epithelium of human fetus

A Study of Human Senile Cataract: Growth and Differentiation of Lens Epithelial Cells in in vitro culture

“…Since the differentiation of the lentoid body from the lens epithelial cell cultured in vitro was shown in chick [15,16], similar studies were achiev ed in rats [8], normal and hereditary cataract mice [20], and in human fe tuses [9].…”

“…The results of immuno chemical examinations can be regarded as the substantial evidence for drawing this conclusion, because the synthesis of y-crystallin occurs pre dominantly in lens fibers in mammalian species [1,8,9,17,18]. Our pre liminary observations also revealed that the lentoids obtained in the present culture were mainly constituted by differentiated cells with the ultrastruc tural characteristics specialized in the fully differentiated lens fiber [8,9,14,17], Such a cell population, however, must be much less in number in com parison with the younger normal lenses, although no comparative analysis has been done in human lenses so far. In relation to this argument, the results of clonal cultures of chick lenses are highly relevant.…”

Expression of Sialylated LewisxGangliosides in Cultured Lens Epithelial Cells from Rhesus Monkey

“…In a number of previous studies on the lentoid body formation, differentiation was often seen in the multilayer regions of monolayer cultures of lens epithelial cells (Okada, Eguchi and Takeichi, 1971 ;Hamada and Okada, 1978 ;Eguchi and Kodama, 1979) and after the multiple layering of epithelia in organ culture of rat lens (Walton and McAvoy, 1984). Loss of adhesiveness to the substrate and the acquisition of mutual adhesivity between epithelial cells may therefore enhance the differentiation of epithelium into lentoid bodies.…”

“…The spontaneous appearance of lentoid-like bodies is recognized on culture dish surfaces after 30-50 days (Okada et al, 1971 ;Hamada and Okada, 1978 ;Eguchi and Kodama, 1979) and is dramatic on cell-tosubstrate adhesion-free surfaces by the tenth day of culture (Arita et al, 1990). Similarly, lentoid bodyrich cultures were obtained from monkey cells cultured on a biopore membrane for 30 days or appeared spontaneously on culture dishes at 60 and 90 days (data not shown).…”

“…Dissociated cells of lens epithelia from newly hatched chicks have been demonstrated to retain their ability to differentiate to lens fibers in vitro (Okada, Eguchi and Takeichi, 1971). In vitro differentiation of lens epithelial cells to lentoid bodies has been reported in human and animal lenses (Hamada and Okada, 1978 ;Eguchi and Kodama, 1979 ;Russell et al, 1977 ;Hamada et al, 1979 ;Reddan et al, 1980). Glycosphingolipids (GSLs) are located mainly in the outer leaflet of the plasma membrane as ubiquitous membrane components.…”