Differentiation of Lens Tissue from the Progeny of Chick Retinal Pigment Cells Cultured In Vitro : A Demonstration of a Switch of Cell Types in Clonal Cell Culture

Clonal cell lines isolated from the pigmented retina of 8.5-day chick embryos initially retained the capacity to form pigment. After several passages, however, many cells lost pigment granules and differentiated into lens-like structures. The lens-specific nature of the structures formed in cultures originally derived from retinal pigment cells was established by both ultrastructural and immunological studies.