DIFFERENTIATION OF RAT LENS EPITHELIAL CELLS IN TISSUE CULTURE (III) FUNCTIONS IN VITRO OF A TRANSFORMED RAT LENS EPITHELIAL CELL LINE

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Abstract
Epithelial cells isolated from 1 day old rat lens were neoplastically transformed using Rous Sarcoma Virus (Schmidt-Ruppin-D strain) and were in continuous culture for over 30 mo. This cell line displays some of the characteristics of lens epithelial cells, but can be shown to represent a permanent cell line in that it was transferred more than 50 times and is continuing to grow, while primary lens cell cultures never survive beyond 8 wk. The infecting viral genome can be rescued from the cell line upon fusion with uninfected chick embryo cells. This newly established cell line, designated RLE-R, probably will be useful in studies on cellular differentiation.