Fig. 5

Inhibition of TGFBR1/ACVR1 signaling extends the effective lifespan of RPE cells. Cells were serially passaged using medium supplemented with 500 nM A-83-01 or normal medium. At each passage, parallel cultures were established using a plating density of 80,000 cells/cm² and maintained for 32 days in the medium used for passage. To determine whether A-83-01 could restore the capacity to differentiate after passage in control medium, cells passaged in control medium were also plated into medium supplemented with 500 nM A-83-01. a Whole culture photographs of the high density cultures taken after 32 days (A-83-01, cells passaged and maintained in A-83-01; Control, cells passaged and maintained in normal medium; Control to A-83-01, cells passaged in normal medium and switched to A-83-01 at the indicated passage). See Additional file 2: Figure S3 for phase contrast and brightfield micrographs. b Analysis of RNA expression of select markers of RPE differentiation (blue gene symbols) and RPE wound response (yellow gene symbols) using RT-qPCR. The color scale indicates the expression level relative to the maximum value for that gene. The expression level for the maximum value relative to the housekeeping genes is listed to the right of the heatmap (Amount)