HUMAN LENS EPITHELIAL-CELLS IN TISSUE-CULTURE

In 94 cultures of human cataractous lens epithelial cells derived from patients of different age, the cell diameter and morphology were observed and photographed after 21 days. The following results were obtained: every culture had its typical pattern depending on the age of the patient, which was from 3 months to 94 yr. The cell culture taken from a young man was characterized by smaller epitheloid cells showing a distinctly visible nucleus; the homogeneity of the monolayer diminished in parallel to the increasing age of the patients. The cell morphology became increasingly inhomogenous, showed polymorphism and signs of vacuolic degeneration, and average cell diameter increased in parallel with the increasing age. The cells showed three characteristic phenotypes (Fig. 9), the morphology depending significantly on the age of the culture and of the donor: small epithelial-like cells without vacuoles showing a distinctly visible nucleus (most of these had a diameter of 50-100 μm), large cells with vacuoles, and cells without a visible nucleus and in rare cases including vacuoles (they appeared round and irregular, their diameter was 200-300 μm, and they included filamentous structures). Long term cultures were maintained for 8 months and subcultures maintained up to the third passage. © 1991.