COMPLEX DETACHMENT OF RETINA CHANGES EXPRESSION OF CYTOKERATINS IN THE RETINAL-PIGMENT EPITHELIUM-CELLS OF NEWTS

The behavior of cytokeratins, specific proteins of intermediate filaments of the epithelial cells, was immunohistochemically studied with the use of polyclonal antibody in the normal and transforming cells of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) of newts. Changes in behavior and differentiation of RPE cells were induced by complex detachment of the retina, which affects interaction between the RPE cells and between the RPE and underlying tissues. Soon after the operation marked changes were shown in the pattern of distribution of cytokeratins and intensity of their expression in the RPE cells. Changes in immunoreactivity had differential pattern and depended on the position of cells in the epithelial layer and on the degree of its phenotypic transformation. At the later stages after detachment, during formation of the early rudiment of additional retina, descendants of RPE cells gradually ceased to express specific proteins of tonofilaments. involvement of cytokeratins in regulation of behavior and differentiation of the RPE cells is proposed upon changes between RPE and neural retina interaction in newts.