Soluble protein synthesis in the neural retina during lens regeneration.

Lens regeneration in newts involves transformation of pigmented dorsal iris epithelial cells into lens cells. This process is somehow stimulated by the neural retina. In the present study, soluble proteins and their synthesis were analyzed in normal neural retina and in neural retina 12 days after lentectomy by means of disc and slab gel electrophoresis. Electrophoretic analysis revealed 16 prominent polypeptides (M.W. 18,500 to 185,000 daltons). The electrophoretic banding pattern of the neural retina was similar in normal eyes and in eyes 12 days after lentectomy. To determine which of these bands were being synthesized. 3H-leucine or 35S-methionine was injected prior to tissue preparation for electrophoresis. About 12 bands were found to be radioactive, again no major difference was seen in the radioactivity pattern of soluble proteins obtained from normal and lentectomized eyes. Since no major differences, were observed, the present results suggest that the neural retinal factor, if a soluble protein, is not a new protein but is present in normal retina.