Cytodifferentiation of precultured embryonic chick lens epithelial cells in vitro and in vivo

• 1.1. Embryonic chick lens epithelial cells which had lost their abilities to enlarge and elongate in serum-free medium regained these abilities when they were reimplanted into a lentectomized embryonic eye.
• 2.2. In vitro confrontation of precultured lens epithelia and periocular mesenchyme revealed that this mesenchyme supported modest fiber formation with lens cell elongation and enlargement. These mesenchymal effects were not highly regionally specific since they were also produced to a smaller extent by limb bud mesenchyme.
• 3.3. In vitro confrontation of precultured lens epithelia and embryonic neural retina demonstrated that neural retina supported lens cell enlargement with accumulation of eosinophilic cytoplasm, but did not support lens cell elongation. The possible uncoupling of lens protein accumulation and fiber elongation by these experimental techniques may offer a means of further delineating the mechanisms controlling these two important processes in lens differentiation.