Figure 1.

Diagram showing the procedure of establishing a mouse RPE explant culture. Eyes were enucleated from a euthanized wild-type C57BL/6J mouse, transferred to sterile PBS, and washed with PBS twice. After removing the connective tissue and anterior parts (cornea and lens), the resulting eyecups were cut into four petals. Neural retinae were then peeled off and the RPE/Choroid/Sclera complexes were mounted on a PVDF membrane with the sclera attached to the membrane. RPE flatmounts were then transferred to a 24 well plate with a 500 μL culture medium (with the RPE facing down) and cultured in an incubator at 37 °C with 5% CO₂.