Abstract
Melanotic pigment cells have been known for many years to lose pigmentation traits in cell and tissue culture. Pigment cells from the iris and retinal pigment layer (tapetum) of chick embryos and also neoplastic melanoma cells derived from mammalian skin melanocytes have all been observed to do this, and frequently they will reacquire pigmentation under altered culture conditions (examples reviewed by Whittaker 1963, 1967). The loss of melanotic phenotype in cultures of pigment cells and the possible reappearance of pigmentation after many cell generations is one of the refreshingly simpler examples in cell culture of what can be considered a modulation in the terminology of Weiss (1949). Modulation is a reversible fluctuation within the already established range of determination; it is also the covert maintenance of the potentiality to express an original function. Although many kinds of cells in vitro undergo changes of phenotypic expression, relatively few cell modulations have been examined closely. Phenotypic changes in cell culture have an intrinsic interest and fascination as manifestations of unusual cell behavior, but the modulation phenomenon also appears to be related to the important problems of cell maintenance and stability.
Supported by research grant HD-00059 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, U.S. Public Health Service, and by Cancer Research Funds of the University of California.
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Whittaker, J.R. (1968). The Nature and Probable Cause of Modulations in Pigment Cell Cultures. In: Ursprung, H. (eds) The Stability of the Differentiated State. Results and Problems in Cell Differentiation, vol 1. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-35089-8_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-35089-8_3
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