ULTRASTRUCTURAL, IMMUNOHISTOLOGICAL AND BIOCHEMICAL-CHARACTERIZATION OF CULTURED MOUSE CORNEAL EPITHELIAL-CELLS

We developed a method to culture mouse corneal epithelium. Cultured ce lls tested by 1-D-SDS-PAGE exhibited protein mobility patterns similar to freshly isolated epithelia. Western blots with antibodies broadly recognizing cytokeratins showed a similar pattern for both fresh and c ultured cells, but only the fresh sample stained with J7, specific for a 55-kD 'corneal' cytokeratin. Cultured cells examined at confluency by transmission electron microscopy exhibited desmosomal contacts typi cal of epithelia. The ability to culture mouse corneal epithelial tiss ue will be useful for studies requiring large amounts of material by r educing animal numbers.