• Department of Ophthalmology, Shanghai First People Hospital, Shanghai 200080, China;
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Objective To probe a selective cultural method for bovine retinal endothelial cells (BREC) and pericytes (BRP) in vitro.Methods With the isolation of active retinal blood vessels, BREC were cultured in a fibronectin coated substrate and Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle’s Medium (DMEM) supplemented with 10% human serum and 100μg/ml heparin, while homogeneous cultures of retinal pericytes were obtained when isolated microvessels were seeded to uncoated dishes and grown in DMEM supplemented with 20% fetal bovine serum. BREC were identified by acetylated-low density lipoprotein (Dil-Ac-LDL) incorporation and immunohistochemical method of Von Willebrand factor, while BRP were identified by the immunohist ochemical method of α-isoform of smooth-muscle actin. Results The purity of selectively cultured BREC and BRP was more than 98%, being reproducible. BREC got together around the microvessel fragments with the small-cyprinoid-like configuration at first,and could phagocytize Dil-Ac-LDL with the expression of fluorescence in cytoplasm. The expressions of Von Wllebrand factor and α-isoform of smooth-muscle actin were positive and negative in BREC respectively, while were negative and positive in BRP respectively.Conclusion BREC and BRP with high purity can be obtained by using selective culture and coated-dishes respectively which are simple and repeatable methods. (Chin J Ocul Fundus Dis,2004,20:23-26)

Citation: XIA Xin,XU Xun,GU Qing. Primary culture of bovine retinal capillary endothelial cells and per icytes in vitro. Chinese Journal of Ocular Fundus Diseases, 2004, 20(1): 23-26. doi: Copy