J Korean Ophthalmol Soc.  2002 Jul;43(7):1287-1292.

Morphological Changes of Retinal Vessel Under Tissue Culture

• Kang SW
• Kang GM
• Ko MK

Abstract

PURPOSE: This study was performed to investigate the growth pattern of the retinal vessel including retinal vascular endothelial cell and pericyte.
METHODS
The sensory retina was detached from the eyecup obtained from donor's eye. The retinal vessel which was separated from the sensory retina was cultured in tissue culture media for 2, 3 and 4 weeks separately and examined by transmission electron microscopy.
RESULTS
On the second week of tissue culture, both the retinal vascular endothelial cells and pericyte were intact in morphology in nuclear and cytoplasmic pattern. Both cells were partially detached from the surrounding basement membrane. On the third week of tissue culture, the cytoplasm of the retinal vascular endothelial cells and pericyte were degenerated, whereas the vascular endothelial cell were intact in nuclear and cytoplasmic profiles which were still partially surrounded by the basement membrane.
CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest that the survivability of the retinal vascular endothelial cells and pericyte may be limited for 2 and 3 weeks, separatedly under the ordinary culture medium.

Keyword

Culture; Endothelial cell; Pericyte; Retinal vessel; Ultrastructure

MeSH Terms

Basement Membrane
Culture Media
Cytoplasm
Endothelial Cells
Microscopy, Electron, Transmission
Pericytes
Retina
Retinal Vessels*
Retinaldehyde*
Culture Media
Retinaldehyde