Growth of non-pigmented ciliary epithelial cells in serum-free hormone-supplemented media.

Bovine non-pigmented ciliary epithelial (NPE) cells are cultured following a dissecting procedure that preserves the original cellular polarity. Cell growth of primary cultures of NPE cells is supported by hormonally defined serum-free culture media and an artificial substrate with high binding affinity to attach cells in culture. Cell proliferation of primary cultures of bovine NPE cells was limited to 3-5 weeks. Nerve growth factor (NGF) was found to have a profound effect on the cellular junctions of growing NPE cells when added to the culture media. Nerve growth factor induced the formation abundant microfilament bundles associated with junctional complexes of undetermined nature between adjacent cells. Electron microscopy of NPE in culture shows a high intracellular transport activity with abundant coated pits and clathrin-coated vesicles, a complex network of microfilaments, microtubules and intermediate filaments associated with desmosomes.