|
|
||||||||
1From the Department of Cell Biology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and the 3Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology and North Texas Eye Research Institute, University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth, Texas.
| Abstract |
|---|
|
|
|---|
METHODS. The 661W cells were cloned from retinal tumors of a transgenic mouse line that expresses the simian virus (SV) 40 T antigen under control of the human interphotoreceptor retinol-binding protein (IRBP) promoter. Morphologic, immunocytochemical, and immunoblot analyses were performed to characterize these cells. Total cellular protein was used for immunoblot analysis of various photoreceptor-specific proteins.
RESULTS. 661W cells grew as a monolayer and exhibited processes characteristic of neuronal cells. Immunoblot analysis showed that 661W cells expressed SV40 T antigen, blue and green cone pigments, transducin, and cone arrestin. Immunocytochemical detection of blue and green opsins showed distribution throughout the cell, the nucleus included. However, these cells did not express rod-specific antigens, such as opsin and arrestin or rod- and cone-specific proteins such as phosducin, peripherin/rds, and ROM1. Furthermore, the cells did not express RPE65, a cone- and RPE-cellspecific protein.
CONCLUSIONS. 661W cells demonstrate cellular and biochemical characteristics exhibited by cone photoreceptor cells. These cells also resemble neuronal cells with their spindlelike processes and should serve as a useful alternative in vitro model for the study of cone photoreceptor cell biology and associated diseases.
Retinal cell culture can be routinely used to determine the cell specificity of promoter sequences,1 the effect of mutations on the structure and function of retinal proteins,2 or the role of multiple domains on the function of retinal proteins.3 Furthermore, retinal cell culture has been applied in studies of cell growth, death, differentiation, and cytotoxicity (for review, see Ref. 4 ).
Photoreceptor cells are terminally differentiated, specialized neuronal cells with a limited capacity for cell division. Therefore, to establish a line of photoreceptor cells, it is essential to transform them, possibly with a virus. Immortalized cell lines of several ocular cell types currently exist, including Müller,5 ganglion,6 corneal endothelial,7 and RPE cells.8 A cell line expressing retina-specific genes, including interphotoreceptor retinol-binding protein (IRBP) and cone transducin, has been isolated from a mouse ocular tumor.9 In addition, Y-7910 and WERI-Rb11 are immortalized human retinoblastoma cell lines available for the study of photoreceptors. Initially, it was thought that the Y-79 cells were of cone cell origin,12 but more recently these cells have been shown to express rod-specific antigens, such as opsin, transducin, phosphodiesterase, and recoverin.13 14 Primary retinal cultures have been created from several vertebrate retinas, including those of humans.15 These types of cultures, in addition to being tedious to prepare, are not adequate for some types of studies, because of their heterogeneity, limited cell division, and special conditions for growth as monolayers. Thus, there is a need for additional photoreceptor cell models that are homogeneous, passageable, and easily grown as a monolayer by using standard tissue culture techniques.
Herein, we describe a mouse photoreceptor-derived cell line (661W) immortalized by the expression of simian virus (SV)40 T antigen (T-ag) under control of the human IRBP promoter.16 Cellular, and molecular analyses show that these cells express cone but not rod photoreceptor markers, which suggests that the cells arise from a cone photoreceptor lineage. For this reason, the 661W cell line should contribute significantly to the study of cone photoreceptor cell function and of diseases affecting cone photoreceptor cells, including mechanisms of photoreceptor cell death in various retinal dystrophies.
| Methods |
|---|
|
|
|---|
T1, where cells at passage 67 were used. Treatment with medium supplements was started 24 hours after the cells were seeded at 106 cells/75 cm2. Sodium butyrate was added at a final concentration of 0.5 mM, hydrocortisone sodium succinate at 0.1 mM, retinoic acid at 10 mM in dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), and DMSO at 0.5%. After incubation for 48 hours in the presence of supplements, cells were harvested by mild trypsinization and either counted before use or used directly.
Immunoblot Analysis
Cells were collected by centrifugation, used fresh or immediately frozen in liquid nitrogen, and stored at -70°C until use. Protein extracts and protein concentration determinations, from 661W cells and mouse retinas, were prepared as described elsewhere.18 Aliquots of each sample were resolved by SDS-PAGE, and transferred to a polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) membrane (Immunblot; Bio-Rad, Hercules, CA) as described elsewhere.18 Primary antibody incubations (see Table 1 for specific antibodies and concentrations used) were performed in 5% milk and Tween-Tris-buffered saline (TTBS) for 16 hours at 4°C. Membranes were then washed five times at room temperature (5 minutes each time) in TTBS and incubated in a horseradish-peroxidaselinked goat anti-mouse IgG (Pierce, Rockford, IL) for 1 hour at room temperature, at a dilution of 1:20,000 in 5% milk/TTBS. Membranes were then washed again as described. Blots were incubated in an enhanced chemiluminescent detection system (SuperSignal; Pierce) for 5 minutes and coupled to autoradiograph film (XAR; Eastman-Kodak, Rochester, NY).
|
Immunocytochemical Localization of Cone Opsins by Light and Deconvolution Microscopy
661W cells were processed for fluorescent immunocytochemical localization of cone-specific proteins using anti-blue or -red/green opsin antibody (Table 1) . Cells were seeded onto 12-mm circular noncoated coverslips (Fisher Scientific, Pittsburgh, PA) and fixed with cold acetone for 2 minutes.
Before immunocytochemistry, the cultured cells were permeabilized with 0.3% Triton X-100 in PBS for 2 minutes. The cultured cells were blocked with a 1:10 dilution of serum and primary and secondary antibodies were diluted in 1% bovine serum albumin (fraction V; Roche Diagnostics, Indianapolis, IN). Anti-rabbit FITC- or rhodamine-labeled secondary antibodies at 1:100 (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO) were applied after primary antibody incubations. Between primary and secondary incubations, the cells were washed three times for 5 minutes each with 1% Triton X-100 in PBS. After a final series of washes in PBS, the cultured cells were mounted with antifade medium (Vectashield with 4',6'-diamino-2-phenylindole [DAPI]; Vector Laboratories, Burlingame, CA) containing mounting medium for fluorescent secondary antibodies. The cells were photographed using either an FITC or rhodamine filter on a microscope (Axioscope; Carl Zeiss Meditec). For deconvolution, a microscope with a z-drive was used (Carl Zeiss Meditec).
| Results |
|---|
|
|
|---|
T1, Fig. 1D ), and cone arrestin (cArr, Fig. 1E ). Because mouse cone photoreceptors express only green opsin,27 the cone pigment detected in 661W cells was probably green opsin. However, 661W cells did not express rod-photoreceptorspecific proteins, such as rod opsin (Rho, Fig. 2A ) or rod arrestin (rArr, Fig. 2B ). Furthermore, 661W cells do not express RPE65 (Fig. 2D) , which has been shown to be expressed in RPE and cone photoreceptors.28 Finally, these cells were devoid of other proteins that are common to both rods and cones. Proteins such as phosducin (Phos, Fig. 2C ), peripherin/rds (P/rds, Fig. 2E ), and ROM1 (Fig. 2F) were not detected in 661W cells.
|
|
The anti-G
T1 mAb 4A was shown to cross-react with
subunits of other G-proteins,23 whereas the antibody SC-389 recognized only the rod transducin
subunit. Because mAb 4A did (Fig. 1D) and SC-389 did not (Fig. 2G) recognize a protein in extracts of 661W cells, it is likely that the band that was identified in 661W extracts was cone transducin.
Effects of Differentiation Inducers on 661W Cells
It has been shown that different factors can modulate the growth pattern and promote differentiation of retinoblastoma cells in culture.29 30 Treatment with sodium butyrate causes Y79 cells to undergo growth inhibition followed by either differentiation or cell death.31 Another study showed that retinoic acid treatment of WERI-Rb-1 cells leads to either differentiation toward a cone cell lineage or apoptosis.32 To determine whether treatment with some of these agents could force 661W cells to differentiate, cultures were individually treated with retinoic acid (Fig. 3 , RA, in DMSO), DMSO, sodium butyrate (Fig. 3 , BA), and hydrocortisone sodium succinate (Fig. 3 , HC) for 48 hours. The effect of drug treatment was assessed by immunoblot analysis using anti red/green (Fig. 3B) and blue opsin (data not shown) antibodies. Visual examination of the blot presented in Figure 3B may suggest modulation of the amount of cone opsin with different treatments. However, quantification and normalization to the densitometric value of the specific band (Fig. 3A , arrow) demonstrated no significant increase in the expressed amount of cone pigments (data not shown). Furthermore, probing a comparable blot for cone arrestin showed no significant change in response to treatment of 661W cultures with different agents (data not shown). Similar observations were made whether equal amounts of protein extracts or an amount of protein equivalent to that in a similar number of cells was loaded on the gel for SDS-PAGE.
|
|
Expression of both green and blue opsins was observed throughout the 661W cells, including in or around the nuclear body (Fig. 4C , arrowhead; 4D, inset). Deconvolution confocal microscopy was used to determine whether these pigments were actually localized in the nucleus or simply inserted in the membrane overlaying the nucleus. The pigment was present inside the nucleus, as demonstrated by the colocalization of DAPI and cone opsin staining (Fig. 4F , top and side panels).
| Discussion |
|---|
|
|
|---|
The results presented herein show that these cells express cone but not rod specific antigens, which supports the cone origin of 661W. The patterns of expression of cone opsin and arrestin were not modulated by treatment with factors that stimulate differentiation, such as retinoic acid and hydrocortisone. This behavior is contrary to that of the human retinoblastoma (Y79) cells grown in culture, in which cone arrestin is upregulated in response to retinoic acid.30 The difference in behavior of 661W and Y79 in response to retinoic acid may reflect a more differentiated nature of the 661W cells. This is supported by the fact that 661W cells have larger cytoplasm than Y79 (data not shown), a characteristic usually used by pathologists to assess the differentiated status of tumor cells.
Although the human IRBP promoter was used to direct the expression of T-ag to both rods and cones, the 661W cells originating from the resultant tumors expressed only cone-specific antigens, perhaps because, in the mouse retina, cone genesis precedes that of rods.33 Alternatively, this could be due to an inherit characteristic in rods that makes them more difficult to transform by an oncogene.
The 661W cells do not exhibit cone photoreceptor morphology, such as formation of outer-segmentlike membranes, and they do not express outer segment structural proteins such as P/rds and ROM1. A potential explanation for this behavior could be the need for RPE-produced factor or proper physical contact with the RPE to establish polarity and form outer segments. However, growing these cells in the presence of PE-conditioned medium did not alter their behavior (data not shown), a result that favors the physical contact as a potential explanation. Alternatively, because 661W cells were derived from tumors that had originated in utero before the onset of expression of P/rds and ROM1, it is possible that these cells had never expressed these proteins in the first place. This is supported by the finding that whereas the peak of cone genesis is between embryonic days 13 and 14,33 P/rds transcript is first detected in the mouse retina at postnatal day 1.34
Immunolocalization showed that cone opsins were distributed all over the cell, including the nucleus. Again, this may be explained by the lack of polarity in 661W cells. This phenomenon has also been observed in vivo associated with the expression of mutant opsin in transgenic models where opsin was localized to the inner segments, perinuclear space, and the synaptic terminals.35
We anticipate that these cells express most, if not all, of the proteins involved in cone phototransduction, because they respond to light and can undergo light-induced cell death.36 An intriguing question, though, is how these cells regenerate their pigment and respond to light stress in the absence of RPE65. Cones are thought to express their own RPE65.28 So unless cones, or 661W cells specifically, have an alternative pathway for pigment regeneration, it is difficult to understand how they can be light sensitive. One possibility is that the 661W cells express RGR, the protein that structurally resembles visual pigments and other G-proteincoupled receptors.37 RGR may play a role as a photoisomerase in the production of 11-cis-retinal, the chromophore of the visual pigments. We are currently investigating whether 661W and cone photoreceptor express RGR.
In conclusion, the 661W cell line characterized herein is of cone photoreceptor origin and can serve as a useful tool for investigating photoreceptor cell biology and function.
| Acknowledgements |
|---|
| Footnotes |
|---|
Supported by Grants R01 EY14052 from the National Eye Institute (MRA) and R01 EY10609 (MIN), Core Grant for Vision Research (EY12190), and Grants T-CB-0609-0190 (MRA) and T-GT-0900-0028 (MIN) from the Foundation Fighting Blindness.
Submitted for publication October 7, 2003; revised October 29 and December 1, 2003; accepted December 5, 2003.
Disclosure: E. Tan, None; X.-Q. Ding, None; A. Saadi, None; N. Agarwal, None; M.I. Naash, None; M.R. Al-Ubaidi, None
The publication costs of this article were defrayed in part by page charge payment. This article must therefore be marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C.
1734 solely to indicate this fact.
Corresponding author: Muayyad R. Al-Ubaidi, Department of Cell Biology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, BMSB 781, 940 Stanton L. Young Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK 73104; muayyad-al-ubaidi{at}ouhsc.edu.
| References |
|---|
|
|
|---|
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
B. J. Wiskur, M. L. Robinson, A. J. Farrand, B. D. Novosad, and M. C. Callegan Toward Improving Therapeutic Regimens for Bacillus Endophthalmitis Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci., April 1, 2008; 49(4): 1480 - 1487. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
C. Jomary and S. E. Jones Induction of Functional Photoreceptor Phenotype by Exogenous Crx Expression in Mouse Retinal Stem Cells Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci., January 1, 2008; 49(1): 429 - 437. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
L.-p. Yang, X.-a. Zhu, and M. O. M. Tso Role of NF-{kappa}B and MAPKs in Light-Induced Photoreceptor Apoptosis Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci., October 1, 2007; 48(10): 4766 - 4776. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
A. Comitato, C. Spampanato, C. Chakarova, D. Sanges, S. S. Bhattacharya, and V. Marigo Mutations in splicing factor PRPF3, causing retinal degeneration, form detrimental aggregates in photoreceptor cells Hum. Mol. Genet., July 15, 2007; 16(14): 1699 - 1707. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
T. Langmann Microglia activation in retinal degeneration J. Leukoc. Biol., June 1, 2007; 81(6): 1345 - 1351. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
Y. Kanan, G. Moiseyev, N. Agarwal, J.-X. Ma, and M. R. Al-Ubaidi Light Induces Programmed Cell Death by Activating Multiple Independent Proteases in a Cone Photoreceptor Cell Line Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci., January 1, 2007; 48(1): 40 - 51. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
M. Tanito, Y.-W. Kwon, N. Kondo, J. Bai, H. Masutani, H. Nakamura, J. Fujii, A. Ohira, and J. Yodoi Cytoprotective Effects of Geranylgeranylacetone against Retinal Photooxidative Damage J. Neurosci., March 2, 2005; 25(9): 2396 - 2404. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
J. L. Treichel, M. M. Henry, C. M. B. Skumatz, J. T. Eells, and J. M. Burke Antioxidants and Ocular Cell Type Differences in Cytoprotection from Formic Acid Toxicity in Vitro Toxicol. Sci., November 1, 2004; 82(1): 183 - 192. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
B. Srinivasan, C. H. Roque, B. L. Hempstead, M. R. Al-Ubaidi, and R. S. Roque Microglia-derived Pronerve Growth Factor Promotes Photoreceptor Cell Death via p75 Neurotrophin Receptor J. Biol. Chem., October 1, 2004; 279(40): 41839 - 41845. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
A. K. Sharma and B. Rohrer Calcium-induced Calpain Mediates Apoptosis via Caspase-3 in a Mouse Photoreceptor Cell Line J. Biol. Chem., August 20, 2004; 279(34): 35564 - 35572. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
M. Nour, X.-Q. Ding, H. Stricker, S. J. Fliesler, and M. I. Naash Modulating Expression of Peripherin/rds in Transgenic Mice: Critical Levels and the Effect of Overexpression Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci., August 1, 2004; 45(8): 2514 - 2521. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |