Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the most frequent cause of blindness in developed countries. The replacement of dysfunctional human retinal pigment epithelium (hRPE) cells by the transplantation of in vitro-cultivated hRPE cells to the affected area emerges as a feasible strategy for regenerative therapy. Synthetic biomimetic membranes arise as powerful hRPE cell carriers, but as biodegradability is a requirement, it also poses a challenge due to its limited durability. hRPE cells exhibit several characteristics that putatively respond to the type of membrane carrier, and they can be used as biomarkers to evaluate and further optimize such membranes. Here, we analyze the pigmentation, transepithelial resistance, genome integrity, and maturation markers of hRPE cells plated on commercial polycarbonate (PC) versus in-house electrospun polylactide-based (PLA) membranes, both enabling separate apical/basolateral compartments. Our results show that PLA is superior to PC-based membranes for the cultivation of hRPEs, and the BEST1/RPE65 maturation markers emerge as the best biomarkers for addressing the quality of hRPE cultivated in vitro. The stability of the cultures was observed to be affected by PLA aging, which is an effect that could be partially palliated by the coating of the PLA membranes.

Center for Eye Research and Innovative Diagnostics Department of Ophthalmology Oslo University Hospital and Institute for Clinical Medicine University of Oslo 0424 Oslo Norway

CIDETEC Basque Research and Technology Alliance 20014 Donostia San Sebastián Spain

Department of Cell Biology Faculty of Science Charles University 128 00 Prague Czech Republic

Department of Medical Biochemistry Institute of Clinical Medicine Faculty of Medicine University of Oslo 0372 Oslo Norway

Department of Medical Biochemistry Oslo University Hospital 0424 Oslo Norway

Department of Ophthalmology University Hospital Centre University of Split School of Medicine 21000 Split Croatia

Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic 277 21 Libechov Czech Republic

Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic 162 00 Prague Czech Republic

Norwegian Center for Stem Cell Research Oslo University Hospital 0424 Oslo Norway

UKLO Network University St Kliment Ohridski 7000 Bitola North Macedonia

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