Figure 9.

Luminex analysis of complement components (C1q, C3, C4BP, CFH, and CFI) in conditioned media from post-confluent ARPE cells (green line) and cultured retinas (pink line) as well as co-cultured retinas (blue line), cultured for 0–5 days. Cell culture medium (black line) was also included; none of the investigated complement components was found in this medium. C1q secretion from retinal cultures cultured for 5 days (A) was higher than that from ARPE cells cultured alone or ARPE cells co-cultured with porcine retinas. C3 was secreted from ARPE cells and from co-cultures (B). The regulators C4BP (C), CFH (D), and CFI (E) were all secreted from the ARPE cells and the co-cultures, but none of the regulators was secreted in any major amount from the cultured control retinas. There was a temporal decrease in the CFI secretion after 3 days (E) when compared to the co-cultured specimens. Data are expressed as means ± SEM; *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; n = 4.