A choice between glycogen and delta-crystallin accumulation is made in glial cells and not influenced by overlying neurons.

Chick-embryo neuroretinal cells convert extensively into lens under low-glucose conditions, but this transdifferentiation process is blocked by high-glucose media. We have previously observed an inverse relationship between the levels of glycogen (a marker of normal retinoglial differentiation) and of delta-crystallin (a lens marker) in such cultures. However, most of the glycogen accumulated under high-glucose conditions is apparently localized in those glial (G) cells underlying clusters of neurons (N cells). We here show that glial-enriched cultures (largely depleted of N cells) both accumulate glycogen and fail to transdifferentiate in high-glucose media. Moreover, glycogen localization in groups of glial cells is unaffected by the absence of N cells. Thus the choice between normal and foreign differentiation pathways is made autonomously within the retinoglial-cell population and is not influenced significantly by the presence or absence of N cells.