Rabbit conjunctival epithelium transports fluid, and P2Y2(2) receptor agonists stimulate Cl(-) and fluid secretion.

Rabbit conjunctival epithelium exhibits UTP-dependent Cl(-) secretion into the tears. We investigated whether fluid secretion also takes place. Short-circuit current (I(sc)) was 14.

Transport of fluid by lens epithelium.

We report for the first time that cultured lens epithelial cell layers and rabbit lenses in vitro transport fluid. Layers of the alphaTN4 mouse cell line and bovine cell cultures were grown to confluence on permeable membrane inserts. Fluid movement across cultured layers and excised rabbit lenses was determined by volume clamp (37 degrees C).

Development of an intraluminal device for the treatment of aortic regurgitation: prototype and in vitro testing system.

Objectives: Development of an intraluminal device to reduce aortic regurgitation could provide a strategy intermediate between medical treatment and aortic valve replacement. An initial prototype and a testing system have been designed.

Methods: Aortic valves obtained from heart transplant recipients were explanted and assessed in a mock circulatory loop with resistive and capacitive elements, including pressure-flow characteristics, similar to those of a normal arterial system.

Patch transplants of human fetal retinal pigment epithelium in rabbit and monkey retina.

Purpose: To transplant human fetal retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) into the subretinal space of rabbits and monkeys as an organized monolayer without artificial support.

Methods: The method involves dissecting small patches of cultured RPE monolayers in sheets (1 to 5 mm2), sucking them into a glass pipette and injecting them into the subretinal space after producing a bleb detachment of the neural retina.

Results: These patches unfold and survive as a quasi-monolayer under the reattached neural retina intimately associated with the host photoreceptors and phagocytizing host outer segment material.

Confocal slit divided-aperture microscope: applications in ear research.

A confocal, scanning slit microscope that uses separate portions of the objective aperture for illumination and imaging rays achieves a high degree of optical sectioning. This capability permits visualization of individual cells within the intact inner ear in guinea pigs and cats, and it facilitates directing a laser heterodyne interferometer beam so that vibration of selected cells can be measured. A concentric singlet lens is added to the front of a long-working-distance microscope objective to increase the numerical aperture from 0.