Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells for the Study of Macular Degeneration.

We have developed a method to reliably generate retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) in bulk from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). These iPSC-RPE showed a typical RPE-like morphology with pigmentation and expressed typical RPE markers. The iPSC-RPE also show a transepithelial electrical resistance and can phagocytose photoreceptor outer segments, indicating that they are also functional. Large quantities of iPSC-RPE can be generated with this method through serial expansion for disease modeling and high-throughput screenings.