Tissue culture of chick embryonic choroidal cells: cell aggregation and pigment accumulation

Cells originating from the chick embryo choroid were grown in culture for up to 1 month. The cells did not form coherent monolayer colonies but rather formed large transparent cell aggregates surrounded by a random, loose network of cells. The cell aggregates avidly took up and retained pigment granules while the individual cells did not. Choroidal cell aggregates were not similar to the "lentoid" bodies described by Okada and coworkers in cultures from other ocular tissues; they did not develop fiber cells and did not synthesize delta-crystallin. Thus aggregation of ocular cells appears to be a necessary but insufficient step for the formation of a "lentoid" body.