ADULT BOVINE EPITHELIAL LENS CELL IN CULTURE - ELECTROPHORETIC PATTERN OF TOTAL PROTEIN ON LONGTERM CULTURES AND MORPHOLOGICAL-CHANGES INDUCED BY A RETINAL EXTRACT

The electrophoretic patterns of 35S-methionine-labeled proteins from long-term cultured adult bovine epithelial lens (BEL) cells and of primary calf myotube cultures were compared using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. In the pH and molecular weight range examined, the two patterns differ in a number of polypeptide species. Desmin as well as other specific muscle proteins were absent in BEL cells but both cell types shared the same cytoskeletal proteins such as the α-, β- and γ-actin and vimentin. The effect of a retinal extract on the morphology of BEL cells in culture has been previously described and was further studied here. Depending on the culture conditions and on the presence or absence of RE, the authors were able to induce and control three morphologically very distinct shapes of the same BEL cells.