P 384 Viscoelastic behaviour of different animals vitreous

Purpose To evaluate morphological changes after induction of cell death in cultured monkey retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells by W irradiation, starvation and treatment with a peptide derived from the C.elegans ted-4 protein. Methods SYTO live cell nucleic acid stain kit, LIVE/DEAD EukoLight viability/cytotoxicity kit, T7 polymerase DNA fragmentation essay were used to visualize cellular changes. Results Exposure to UV irradiation for 5-15 min leads to a progressive accumulation of damaged cells. Cells appear flattened, fragmented and are stained as “dead”, indicating early damage to plasma membranes. Starved cells ( media replaced by PBS ) appear shrunken with condensed chromatin but outer melnbrane damage only occurs late in the process. The ted-4 peptide also markedly reduces cell survival in the cultured cells. Significant rescue of these cells s?en with bFGF, aFGF and retinoic acid (KA). Conclusions UV irradiation, starvation, and ced4 peptide treatment lead to irreversible cell damage by initially different pathways as judged by morphological changes. Newly available fluorescent probes allow for reliably following RPE cell death in culture.