Lens epithelial cells (LECs) lose the ability to differentiate with proliferation by successive in vitro culture. Since the extracellular matrix (ECM) has been shown to play important roles in the regulation of tissue-specific gene expression, we examined changes in the expression of genes encoding ECM in lens epithelial cells during culture. Freshly prepared LECs were found to express collagen type IV, collagen type II and laminin β2, while collagen type I and fibronectin expression were hardly detected. During a culture of 2 weeks under low serum conditions, the levels of expression of collagen type IV and laminin β2 were shown to decrease in parallel with the loss of α- and β-crystallin gene expression by a semiquantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. In contrast, the levels of both transcripts and proteins of collagen type I and fibronectin increased within this same period, while expression of Pax6 was unchanged. The culture of LECs under a low serum condition caused rapid changes in expression of ECM genes to lose specificity of LECs. These changes may be closely related with the proliferating activity of LECs.

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