Primary Culture of Dissociated Cells of the Rat Retina under Conditions of Long-Lasting Culturing: Properties of Ganglion Cells

We developed a technique for long-lasting culturing of dissociated cells of the rat retina. Electrophysiological characteristics of cultured retinal ganglion cells were examined using a patch-clamp technique in the whole-cell configuration (current-clamp mode). Morphological and electrophysiological characteristics of cultured retinal ganglion cells corresponded to those obtained under conditions of an acute experiment on the cells of similar-age animals; this is indicative of the possibility of using cultured retinal cells in electrophysiological and pharmacological studies.