Selective propagation of retinal pericytes in mixed microvascular cell cultures using L-leucine-methyl ester.

Endothelial cell (EC) propagation has been simplified by developing cell-specific selection criteria. Methods commonly used for selectively isolating EC include: (i) differential sieving of disaggregated tissue, (ii) differential plating of cells on extracellular matrices, (iii) lectin affinity isolation of cell populations and (iv) fluorescence-activated cell sorting of cells labeled with a carbocyanine dye of acetylated low-density lipoprotein (DiI-Ac-LDL). Few criteria for selectively propagating pericytes (PC) are currently available.

A luminescent europium complex for the sensitive detection of proteins and nucleic acids immobilized on membrane supports.

Certain metal complexes selectively interact with proteins immobilized on solid-phase membrane supports to form brightly colored products. Detecting the absorbance of colorimetric stains is limited by the molar extinction coefficient of the product, however. Development of light-emitting complexes should improve detection sensitivity, but fluorescent labels described to date modify free amino, carboxyl, or sulfhydryl groups often rendering proteins unsuitable for further analysis.