Fig. 4

Cultured hESC-RPE cells maintain identity following expansion. a Flow cytometric analysis of RPE markers (OTX2, MITF, PMEL17, and CRABLP), the proliferation marker (Ki67) and pluripotent hESC marker (TRA-1-81) in sub-confluent, actively dividing cells in hESC-RPE cell cultures. b Karyotypic analysis of hESC-RPE cells at passage 11. c Gene expression analysis comparing immature hESC-RPE (I-hESC-RPE) cells with maturing hESC-RPE (M-hESC-RPE) cells expressed relative to human fetal RPE cells. d Re-acquisition of pigmented, cobblestone morphology in hESC-RPE cell monolayers after 4 weeks under optimized maturation conditions. Scale = 100 μm. e Scanning electron microscopic images of mature hESC-RPE cells with developed apical microvilli. Scale = (top) 100 μm, (bottom) 2 μm. f Confocal immunofluorescent detection of MITF, PMEL17, ZO-1, RPE65, CRALBP, and MERTK in matured hESC-RPE cell monolayers