Primary Cell Culture of Retinal Pigment Epithelium (RPE) Cells

Retinal diseases such as dry AMD, retinitis pigmentosa and others, are still non-curable or the currently used therapeutic approaches are insufficiently effective. Their pathogenesis, likely multifactorial, involving a complex interaction of metabolic, functional, genetic, and environmental factors, remain poorly understood. Although major abnormalities are seen in four functionally interrelated tissues, i.e., photoreceptors, retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), Bruch's membrane and choriocapillaris, the impairment of RPE cell functions is an early and crucial event in the cellular and molecular pathways leading to clinically relevant retinal changes. Detecting changes in RPE cells and repairing the pathways involved by using cellular and molecular based strategies are crucial for developing an effective therapy. For this reason, our laboratory is involved in investigation based on human RPE cells. We develop collaboration with the University Hospital of Valladolid for obtaining human eye globes for isolating and cultivating pure fresh human RPE cells using our established protocols.

Furthermore, porcine eye resembles with human eye in many properties such as similar size, anatomy, and histology. Furthermore, retinal development in pig eye shows substantial similarity to human retinal development. These characteristics make pig eyes and their RPE cells an ideal model for performing pre-clinical tests. For this reason, our laboratory is involved in investigation based on pig RPE cells. We developed a collaboration with the local slaughterhouse for obtaining pig eye globes for isolating and cultivating pure fresh pig RPE cells using our established protocols.

In summary, we offer fresh pure human and porcine RPE cells for investigation purposes.