scholarly journals The unusual microtubule polarity in teleost retinal pigment epithelial cells.

1988 ◽  
Vol 107 (4) ◽  
pp. 1461-1464 ◽  
Author(s):  
L L Troutt ◽  
B Burnside

In cells of the teleost retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), melanin granules disperse into the RPE cell's long apical projections in response to light onset, and aggregate toward the base of the RPE cell in response to dark onset. The RPE cells possess numerous microtubules, which in the apical projections are aligned longitudinally. Nocodazole studies have shown that pigment granule aggregation is microtubule-dependent (Troutt, L. L., and B. Burnside, 1988b Exp. Eye Res. In press.). To investigate further the mechanism of microtubule participation in RPE pigment granule aggregation, we have used the tubulin hook method to assess the polarity of microtubules in the apical projections of teleost RPE cells. We report here that virtually all microtubules in the RPE apical projections are uniformly oriented with plus ends toward the cell body and minus ends toward the projection tips. This orientation is opposite that found for microtubules of dermal melanophores, neurons, and most other cell types.

2014 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHRISTINA KING-SMITH ◽  
RONALD J. VAGNOZZI ◽  
NICOLE E. FISCHER ◽  
PATRICK GANNON ◽  
SATYA GUNNAM

AbstractRetinal pigment epithelial cells of teleosts contain numerous melanosomes (pigment granules) that exhibit light-dependent motility. In light, melanosomes disperse out of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cell body (CB) into long apical projections that interdigitate with rod photoreceptors, thus shielding the photoreceptors from bleaching. In darkness, melanosomes aggregate through the apical projections back into the CB. Previous research has demonstrated that melanosome motility in the RPE CB requires microtubules, but in the RPE apical projections, actin filaments are necessary and sufficient for motility. We used myosin S1 labeling and platinum replica shadowing of dissociated RPE cells to determine actin filament polarity in apical projections. Actin filament bundles within RPE apical projections are uniformly oriented with barbed ends toward the distal tips. Treatment of RPE cells with the tetravalent lectin, Concanavalin A, which has been shown to suppress cortical actin flow by crosslinking of cell-surface proteins, inhibited melanosome aggregation and stimulated ectopic filopodia formation but did not block melanosome dispersion. The polarity orientation of F-actin in apical projections suggests that a barbed-end directed myosin motor could effect dispersion of melanosomes from the CB into apical projections. Inhibition of aggregation, but not dispersion, by ConA confirms that different actin-dependent mechanisms control these two processes and suggests that melanosome aggregation is sensitive to treatments previously shown to disrupt actin cortical flow.


1988 ◽  
Vol 66 (9) ◽  
pp. 942-950 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahin Khatami

Transport of myo-inositol (MI) was studied in primary cultures of bovine retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells. At low external concentrations (0.01–1 mM), uptake appeared to follow saturation kinetics, although the reciprocal forms of the rate equations did not fit either Lineweaver–Burk or Eadie–Hofstee plots. Increasing external concentrations dramatically changed the pattern of MI entry. At two to three orders of magnitude higher than physiological concentrations, a second saturation occurred (pseudo saturation). Cells incubated with 20 μM [3H]MI for 60 min had a ratio of intracellular to extracellular radioactivity ≥ 8, indicating active transport.MI transport reduction by Na+ replacement or inhibitors (phlorizin, ouabain, amiloride, KSCN, iodoacetamide, MI analogues) was greater when RPE cells were incubated with low (20–400 μM) than with high (10–20 mM) MI concentrations. Cells incubated with 20 μM MI at 53 or 65 °C showed increased transport (up to 560%) compared with cells at 22 °C. The effect on MI uptake (20 μM) of Na+ replacement also was reduced at 53 °C. The uptake of MI involved at least two transport systems. The major mechanism at low external MI concentrations (physiological levels) was a carrier-mediated active process. At high external MI levels, uptake occurred by a diffusion process. A lipotropic effect of MI may be responsible for this increased rate of diffusion.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janosch P Heller ◽  
Tristan G Heintz ◽  
Jessica CF Kwok ◽  
Keith R Martin ◽  
James W Fawcett

AbstractRetinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells have been used in disease modelling and transplantation studies in retinal diseases. Several types of RPE cells have been trialed, ranging from primary cells and immortalized cell lines to stem cell-derived RPE cells. During aging and in disease, the extracellular environment of the RPE cells changes, interfering with RPE cell adhesion. We hypothesize that this could be a key problem in transplantation studies that have reported lack of adhesion and survival of the transplanted RPE cells. Integrins are essential for the proper function of the RPE, mediating adhesion to Bruch’s membrane, and the binding and subsequent phagocytosis of photoreceptor outer segments. Variability that has been found in clinical trials might be due to the variability of cell types used and their expression profiles of surface molecules. Here, we set out to analyze integrin expression in primary rat RPE cells and in the human cell line ARPE-19 using immunochemistry. We found that both cell types express integrins to varying degrees. After long-term culturing, ARPE-19 cells resemble mature RPE cells, and increase integrin expression. We hence argue that it is important to test the properties of these cells prior to transplantation to avoid failure of adhesion and to facilitate correct function.


1986 ◽  
Vol 103 (1) ◽  
pp. 299-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
P L Mayerson ◽  
M O Hall

The retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cell of the eye normally phagocytozes only retinal rod outer segments (ROS). The specificity of this phagocytic process was examined by incubating RPE cells with a variety of particle types. Confluent RPE cell cultures were incubated for 3 h at 37 degrees C in the presence of rat ROS, rat red blood cells (RBC), algae, bacteria, or yeast. Other cell cultures were incubated with equal numbers of ROS and one other particle type. Quantitative scanning electron microscopy was used to determine the numbers and morphology of particles bound to RPE cells, while double immunofluorescence labeling (Chaitin, M. H., and M. O. Hall, 1983, Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci., 24:812-820) was used to quantitate particle binding and ingestion. Both assays demonstrated phagocytosis to be a highly specific process. RPE cells bound 40-250 X more ROS than RBC, 30 X more ROS than algae, and 5 X more ROS than bacteria or yeast. Ingestion was more specific than binding; RPE cells ingested 970 X more ROS than RBC, 140 X more ROS than bacteria, and 35 X more ROS than yeast. The phagocytic preference for ROS was maintained in competition experiments with other particle types. Serum was found to be essential for phagocytosis. This study demonstrates that both the binding and ingestion phases of phagocytosis are highly specific processes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yunqin Li ◽  
Junliang Jiang ◽  
Jin Yang ◽  
Libo Xiao ◽  
Qiyun Hua ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Insulin positively correlates with the length of the eye axis and is increased in the vitreous and serum of patients with pathological myopia (PM). How insulin influences the physiological process of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells in PM remains unclear. This study aimed to explore the effect of insulin on the ultrastructure and function of RPE cells and the role of PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling involved in the development of PM. Methods The ARPE-19 cells were treated with different concentrations of insulin to analyze the cell morphology, cell viability, the protein level of insulin receptor β, and the mRNA and protein levels of and PM-related factors (TIMP-2, MMP-2, bFGF, and IGF-1). The ultrastructure of APRE-19 cells was also observed after insulin treatment. Besides, the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling was studied with or without the PI3K inhibitor LY294002 in ARPE-19 cells. Results Insulin enhanced the cell viability of ARPE-19 cells and caused the endoplasmic reticulum to expand and vesiculate, suggesting increased secretion of growth factors and degeneration in ARPE-19 cells. Furthermore, the insulin receptor β was stimulated with insulin treatment, subsequently, the phosphorylation of AKT and mTOR was positively activated, which was adversely suppressed in the presence of LY294002. The secretion of TIMP-2 and bFGF was significantly decreased, and the secretion of MMP-2 and IGF-1 was highly elevated with insulin treatment depending on the concentration in ARPE-19 cells. Furthermore, the effect of insulin on PM-related proteins was restored with the addition of LY294002. Conclusions Our results indicated that insulin regulated the secretion of PM-related factors via the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway in retinal pigment epithelial cells, and thus probably promoted the development of PM through transducing regulation signals from retina to choroid and sclera.


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-108
Author(s):  
L. A Katargina ◽  
E. V Denisova ◽  
Natal’ja A. Osipova

Purpose - to acquaint the reader with a relatively rare heterogeneous group of diseases - hereditary macular dystrophies associated with damage to cells of retinal pigment epithelium and external segments of photoreceptors. А review of the literature based on publications from the Medline scientific medical articles database is presented. The review includes a description of the clinical picture, consideration of diagnosis and differential diagnosis of the main juvenile macular dystrophies, illustrated by own clinical examples.


eLife ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
So Goto ◽  
Akishi Onishi ◽  
Kazuyo Misaki ◽  
Shigenobu Yonemura ◽  
Sunao Sugita ◽  
...  

VEGF secreted from retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells is responsible for the choroidal vascular development; however, the molecular regulatory mechanism is unclear. We found that Aldh1a1–/– mice showed choroidal hypoplasia with insufficient vascularization in the dorsal region, although Aldh1a1, an enzyme that synthesizes retinoic acids (RAs), is expressed in the dorsal neural retina, not in the RPE/choroid complex. The level of VEGF in the RPE/choroid was significantly decreased in Aldh1a1–/– mice, and RA-dependent enhancement of VEGF was observed in primary RPE cells. An RA-deficient diet resulted in dorsal choroidal hypoplasia, and simple RA treatment of Aldh1a1–/– pregnant females suppressed choroid hypoplasia in their offspring. We also found downregulation of Sox9 in the dorsal neural retina and RPE of Aldh1a1–/– mice and RPE-specific disruption of Sox9 phenocopied Aldh1a1–/– choroidal development. These results suggest that RAs produced by Aldh1a1 in the neural retina directs dorsal choroidal vascular development via Sox9 upregulation in the dorsal RPE cells to enhance RPE-derived VEGF secretion.


1996 ◽  
Vol 109 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-43
Author(s):  
C. King-Smith ◽  
P. Chen ◽  
D. Garcia ◽  
H. Rey ◽  
B. Burnside

In the eyes of teleosts and amphibians, melanin pigment granules of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) migrate in response to changes in light conditions. In the light, pigment granules disperse into the cells' long apical projections, thereby shielding the rod photoreceptor outer segments and reducing their extent of bleach. In darkness, pigment granules aggregate towards the base of the RPE cells. In vitro, RPE pigment granule aggregation can be induced by application of nonderivatized cAMP, and pigment granule dispersion can be induced by cAMP washout. In previous studies based on RPE-retina co-cultures, extracellular calcium was found to influence pigment granule migration. To examine the role of calcium in regulation of RPE pigment granule migration in the absence of retinal influences, we have used isolated RPE sheets and dissociated, cultured RPE cells. Under these conditions depletion of extracellular or intracellular calcium ([Ca2+]o, [Ca2+]i) had no effect on RPE pigment granule aggregation or dispersion. Using the intracellular calcium dye fura-2 and a new dye, fura-pe3, to monitor calcium dynamics in isolated RPE cells, we found that [Ca2+]i did not change from basal levels when pigment granule aggregation was triggered by cAMP, or dispersion was triggered by cAMP washout. Also, no change in [Ca2+]i was detected when dispersion was triggered by cAMP washout in the presence of 10 microM dopamine, a treatment previously shown to enhance dispersion. In addition, elevation of [Ca2+]i by addition of ionomycin neither triggered pigment movements, nor interfered with pigment granule motility elicited by cAMP addition or washout. Since other studies have indicated that actin plays a role in both pigment granule dispersion and aggregation in RPE, our findings suggest that RPE pigment granule migration depends on an actin-based motility system that is not directly regulated by calcium.


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