Cognin distribution during differentiation of embryonic chick retinal cells in vitro

Differentiation of individual retina neurons is closely linked to development of retina function. This differentiation may be intrinsic to the cell or determined by the position of the cell within the developing tissue. Retina cognin, a cell-cell recognition protein, which may itself mediate position-dependent cell interactions in vivo exhibits a characteristic change in distribution during embryonic chick development. Cognin is progressively lost from the outer retina in a manner which appears position-dependent. We asked if this change in cognin distribution was actually position-dependent or intrinsic to the retina cells. Neural retina cells from 8-day-old chick embryos were cultured in vitro. Continued differentiation of the cultured cells was demonstrated by neurite outgrowth and characteristic increases in choline acetyltransferase and glutamic acid decarboxylase activity. In such cultures, the characteristic developmentally related disappearance of retina cognin occurred as in vivo. This indicated that this aspect of retina neuronal differentiation was independent of position within the tissue and likely intrinsic to individual cells after 8 days of embryonic development.