Melanosome Motility in Fish Retinal Pigment Epithelial (RPE) Cells

Several model systems have been developed to investigate mechanisms and regulation of intracellular organelle motility. The fish retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cell represents an unusual but simple system for the study of actin-dependent organelle motility. Primary cultures of RPE dissociated from the eye are amenable to motility studies using a simple perfusion chamber and conventional phase contrast microscopy. In vivo, melanin-containing pigment granules (melanosomes) within fish RPE migrate distances up to 100 μm in response to light flux. When sheets of RPE are removed from the eye and dissociated, they attach to the substrate with apical projections extending radially from the central cell body. Melanosomes can be chemically triggered to aggregate or disperse throughout the projections. Melanosome migration in RPE apical projections is dependent on actin filaments and thus renders this model system useful for investigations of actin-dependent organelle motility.