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Updated: Aug 13, 2026
Preparation and Culture of Rat Lens Epithelial Explants for Studying Terminal Differentiation
Published on: September 22, 2009
Characterisation of epithelial cell line from rat cornea
J Jóźwiak1, P Skopiński, A Komar
1Department of Histology and Embryology, Medical University of Warsaw, Poland. yaro@ib.amwaw.edu.pl
Purpose:
Characterisation of RtCE-1 cells, newly established rat corneal epithelial cell line.
Methods:
Morphology of RtCE-1 cells was characterised by light and electron microscopy. Expression of cytokeratins was studied by polyacrylamide electrophoresis and Western blotting. Characterisation of RtCE-1 cells also included karyotype analysis and in vitro study of growth kinetics.
Results:
The line shows morphological similarities to normal corneal epithelium. The cells express cornea-specific cytokeratins. Karyotype analysis revealed that the cells are polyploid with modal number of chromosomes at passage 30 equalling 72 +/- 14. Growth of the line is partially dependent on EGF.
Conclusion:
RtCE-1 cells may constitute a model for the evaluation of proliferation, function and differentiation of corneal epithelium in vitro.
