Preparation and Culture of Rat Lens Epithelial Explants for Studying Terminal DifferentiationPeggy S. Zelenka 1, Chun Y. Gao 1, Senthil S. Saravanamuthu 1
1Laboratory of Molecular and Developmental Biology, National Eye Institute (NEI), National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Explants of the central region of rat lens epithelia differentiate synchronously when cultured in the presence of FGF-2. Immunofluorescence microscopy of such cultures can provides novel information about gene expression and signaling events associated with terminal differentiation.