Figure 3.

Re-morphogenesis of ARPE-19 cells treated with ITS. (A) The photomicrographs show ARPE-19 cells cultured for 4 weeks with ITS and stained for actin with Texas Red-X phalloidin. Note the tight intercellular contact, epithelial-like cellular shape, and predominantly peripheral cortical actin staining. Confocal immunofluorescence images of the same culture conditions showing β-catenin (B) and N-cadherin (C) at the lateral membrane, CD147 (D) mostly in the apical domain and ezrin (E) in the apical domain. (F) The immunofluorescence image shows immunostaining of the α₁ subunit of Na⁺, K⁺-ATPase at the lateral membrane and more precisely, as observed in the XZ image, at the cell-cell contacts. (G) The β₁ subunit is observed at the cell border and at the apical domain; the XZ image confirms both basolateral and apical staining. (H) The β₂ subunit is observed mainly at the apical domain; the XZ image confirms apical staining. Scale bar: 10 μm. (I) Quantitative analysis of the transepithelial resistance (TER) of ARPE-19 cells during re-morphogenesis is depicted. Note a stable TER of ~80 Ω cm² between the second and fourth week in culture.