Adult human retinal cells in culture. Identification of cell types and expression of differentiated properties.

A method for culturing adult mammalian retinal neurons in serum-free N2 medium supplemented with nerve growth factor (NGF) is described. Identification of neurons in cultures of dispersed human retina was based upon morphology, immunocytochemical localization of bound tetanus toxin, and autoradiographic localization of 3H-neurotransmitter candidates (gamma-aminobutyric acid, glycine, dopamine) accumulated by high-affinity uptake mechanisms. Neurons would not attach to glass or plastic substrates, consequently the present studies were performed using neurons plated upon a feeder layer. Serum was required for the initial phase of attachment. The feeder layer was derived from retinal cells that had been plated on glass or plastic in the presence of serum and had later been passaged. Since these cells exhibited glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) immunoreactivity, they were tentatively identified as being glial in origin. Under these conditions, neuron- and glia-specific properties were retained up to 28 days. The presence of interstitial retinol-binding protein (IRBP) in medium of cultures of neuronal cells on feeder layers was demonstrated by an immunoblot technique using rabbit antibovine IRBP antibodies. No IRBP was detected in medium in which the feeder layers alone had been cultured. IRBP biosynthesis was demonstrated by incubation of the cultures with [35S]methionine. Immunoprecipitable [35S]IRBP was detected only in medium from cultures containing neurons; cells of the feeder layer did not synthesize and secrete this glycoprotein. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that IRBP, a 135K constituent of the interphotoreceptor matrix, is synthesized in vivo by a neuronal cell, specifically, the photoreceptors.