Retinal pigment epithelial cells or RPE are located between photoreceptors and the choroid. Dysfunction of RPE is important in the pathogenesis of diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, and retinitis pigmentosa. The use of primary RPE is key to studies to improve the understanding of how disease is developed.
While various species have been used as a source of primary RPE, mice have the advantage of allowing to use genetic manipulation to help understand how retinopathies develop. Prior methods of isolation of primary RPE from rodents require either the use of neonatal animals, are lengthy, require technical expertise, or are not suitable for cell culture. We describe a simple and fast method to isolate primary RPE from adult mice that yields highly pure cultures of the cells.
