In vitro analysis of corneal development with monoclonal antibodies

Anti-corneal monoclonal antibodies, highly selective for corneal stromal and corneal epithelial components, were used to immunohistochemically evaluate differentiation of intact embryonic chick corneas grown in organ culture in the presence or absence of an associated lens. It was observed that both epithelial and stromal components of 5-day corneas initiated expression of their antigens, irrespective of the presence of a lens. This was unlike previous results obtained when 5-day lens-less corneas were explanted to the chorioallantoic membrane, a condition under which epithelial differentiation ensued but stromal differentiation did not. Possibly, in organ culture, the filter support may replace the lens as a substratum for cell migration of neural crest-derived pericorneal mesenchymal cells into the primary corneal stroma. In 5-day organ cultures with lenses, cellular migration into the primary corneal stroma seems to be largely inhibited (also unlike previous results on the chorioallantoic membrane), but mesenchymal cells which had accumulated at the periphery of the eye did express the differentiation antigen.