Human Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells

The human retina is a multi-layered structure lining the rear of the eye. It consists of photoreceptor cells and retinal pigment epithelial cells (RPE). RPE situated between the neurosensory retina and the choroid, form the outer blood-retina barrier that controls the chemical composition of the subretinal space. RPE has long been recognized to differ from many other epithelia in the polarity of a number of proteins and whereas almost all other epithelia face an apical lumen devoid of matrix, the RPE apical plasma membrane is in contact with the extracellular matrix. During early embryonic development, RPE spontaneously transdifferentiate into neural retinal tissue. RPE play a critical role in the development and maintenance of adjacent photoreceptors. They generate a number of reactive oxygen species when illuminated with light and their proliferation is an important step in the pathogenesis of ocular diseases such as proliferative retinopathy. HRPEpiC from AcceGen Research Laboratories are isolated from human retina. HRPEpiC are cryopreserved at passage one and delivered frozen. Each vial contains >5×10^5 cells in 1 ml volume. HRPEpiC are characterized by immunofluorescent method with antibodies to cytokeratin-18, cytokeratin-19 and fibronectin. HRPEpiC are negative for HIV-1, HBV, HCV, mycoplasma, bacteria, yeast and fungi. HRPEpiC are guaranteed to further expand for 15 population doublings in the condition provided by AcceGen Research Laboratories.