REACTIVE CHANGES IN THE HUMAN RETINAL PIGMENT EPITHELIUM IN VITRO

Abstract

Explants from the retinal pigment epithelium and the underlying choroid and sclera were dissected from human eyes and transferred to culture wells. The mechanical trauma caused by the dissection and removal of the explants, and the changes in biological milieu caused by transfer of the tissue to an in vitro system causes injury, necrosis and detachment of cells from Bruch''s membrane. In the retinal pigment epithelium, cells adjacent to damaged, spherical and detaching cells and smaller cell free zones form rosettes. At the periphery of big defects, the cells spread out to cover the denuded areas of Bruch''s membrane. Cell injury in the human retinal pigment epithelium is followed by reactive cellular changes in vitro. The result of these reactive changes are increased variation in cellular form and magnitude and in pigment concentration per unit area.