The major hydrophobic fluorophore of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) is A2E, a pyridinium bis-retinoid derived from all-trans-retinal and phosphatidyl-ethanolamine. The accumulation of fluorophores such as A2E is implicated in the pathogenesis of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a disease associated with the deterioration of central vision and a leading cause of blindness in the eld...

Purpose Melanoma-associated retinopathy (MAR) is a paraneoplastic syndrome associated with malignant melanoma and the presence of anti-retinal autoantibodies, including autoantibodies against transient receptor potential melanopsin 1 (TRPM1), a cation channel expressed by both melanocytes and retinal bipolar cells. The goal of this study was to further map the antigenic epitope. Methods Patie...

AIM To present a new method called magnetolipofection which can transfect cells in a specific area of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) by magnetic force as a non-viral gene transfection. METHODS ARPE-19 (a human RPE cell line) cells were cultured with a mixture of cationic lipid, plasmid DNAs and magnetite nanoparticles. A sheet of ARPE-19 cells was transfected in the vertical direction b...

The feasibility of autologous transplantation of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells from just posterior to the ora serrata to the posterior pole was demonstrated in the rabbit model. Two techniques for introducing the transplanted cells were compared: an internal (anterior transvitreal) and an external (posterior transscleral) penetration to the subretinal space. In both approaches, RPE cel...

Two-photon ophthalmoscopy has potential for in vivo assessment of function of normal and diseased retina. However, light safety of the sub-100 fs laser typically used is a major concern and safety standards are not well established. To test the feasibility of safe in vivo two-photon excitation fluorescence (TPEF) imaging of photoreceptors in humans, we examined the effects of ultrashort pulsed ...

Melanophores of the angelfish, Pterophyllum scalare, were studied in an attempt to demonstrate the existence of actin in these cells although microfilaments had previously not been found. By use of a variety of procedures, including immunofluorescence microscopy of intact and detergent-extracted cells, transmission electron microscopy, high voltage electron microscopy of whole-mount preparation...

Recent episodes of mass coral bleaching, the loss of symbiotic dinoflagellates or photosynthetic pigment from hermatypic corals, have been triggered by elevated sea temperatures. Photosynthetic irradiance is an important secondary factor. Host based pigments (pocilloporins or Green Fluorescent Protein homologues) have been proposed to reduce the impact of elevated temperature by shading the din...

background & aim: the pigments inside the leaf chloroplasts receive sunlight energy and transport it to photosynthesis reaction center. the most important of these pigments is chlorophyll. in this study, the pigments existence in medicinal plant, sumac (rhus coriaria l.), was investigated at biotechnology laboratory, isfahan university of technology. experimental: experiments were performed...

PURPOSE In an earlier study we found normal adeno-associated viral vector type 2 (AAV2)-mediated GFP expression after intravitreal injection to one eye of normal C57BL/6J mice. However, GFP expression was very poor in the partner eye of the same mouse if this eye received an intravitreal injection of the same vector one month after the initial intravitreal injection. We also found both injectio...