
The degree of pigmentation in in vitro cultured human iPSC-derived retinal pigment epithelium (iPSC-RPE) cells does not correlate strongly with their gene expression profiles or functional characteristics.


coremsg

Retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells show heterogeneous level of pigmentation when cultured in vitro . To know whether their color in appearance is correlated with the function of the RPE, we analyzed the color intensities of human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived RPE cells (iPSC-RPE) together with the gene expression profile at the single cell level. For this purpose, we utilized our recent invention, Automated Live imaging and cell Picking System (ALPS), which enabled photographing each cell before RNA-sequencing analysis to profile the gene expression of each cell. While our iPSC-RPE were categorized in 4 clusters by gene expression, the color intensity of iPSC-RPE did not project any specific gene expression profiles. We reasoned this by less correlation between the actual color and the gene expressions that directly define the level of pigmentation, from which we hypothesized the color of RPE cells may be a temporal condition not strongly indicating the functional characteristics of the RPE.

### Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Pigmentation level of human iPSC-derived retinal pigment epithelium cell does not indicate a specific gene expression profile

in-vitro-pigmentation-of-human-ipsc-derived-retinal-pigment-epithelium-cells-does-not-reflect-their-functional-characteristics


In vitro Pigmentation of Human iPSC-Derived Retinal Pigment Epithelium Cells Does Not Reflect Their Functional Characteristics
