Comprehensive Analysis of Photoreceptor Outer Segments: Flow Cytometry Characterization and Stress-Driven Impact on Retinal Pigment Epithelium Phagocytosis.

ABSTRACT: Phagocytosis is one of the key functions of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells, which maintain photoreceptor health by removing photoreceptor outer segments (POSs) that are regularly shed. A deficiency in RPE function to phagocytose POSs may lead to vision loss in inherited retinal diseases and eventually to age-related macular degeneration (AMD) with geographic atrophy. Significant progress has been made in the field of cell replacement therapy for AMD using stem-cell-derived RPE. To test their function, RPE cells are incubated with purified bovine POSs for the demonstration of efficient binding, internalization, and digestion of POSs. Here, we present an image-based method to measure phagocytosis activity by using POSs labeled with a pH-sensitive fluorescent dye, which has low fluore

SUBMITTER: Liang H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10454439 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature