Abstract: A method of accelerating corneal wound healing in the corneal anterior stroma and/or improving the quality of wound healing in a mammal comprises: (1) providing an ophthalmically compatible solution of platelet-derived growth factor; and (2) applying the solution to the cornea of a mammal at the time of or subsequent to occurrence of a corneal wound in a quantity sufficient to accelerate clinically detectable healing, the healing being accelerated through proliferation of epithelial cells and/or keratocytes of the cornea stimulated by application of the platelet-derived growth factor to the cornea. The platelet-derived growth factor can be selected from the group consisting of the AA isoform, the AB isoform, the BB isoform, and mixtures thereof. A preferable form of platelet-derived growth factor is a recombinantly-derived refolded B-chain homodimer of 119 amino acids, having the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1. The concentration of platelet-derived growth factor in the solution can be from about 10 .mu.

Abstract: Monoclonal antibodies specific for epitopes found on the B chain of PDGF (including v-sis, c-sis and platelet-derived forms) may be bound to columns and used for purification of rPDGF B. A solution containing a polypeptide possessing at least part of the structural conformation of rPDGF B is passed over such a column and the rPDGF B is bound to the antibody. The rPDGF B may then be eluted from the column to yield rPDGF B of greater than 95% purity as determined by SDS-PAGE.

Abstract: A method for introducing a replication-defective retroviral vector into pluripotent stem cells of embryos of an avian species, including chickens, turkeys, quails or ducks. The method is useful for transferring nucleic acid sequences into embryonic avian cells which may differentiate into somatic or germ cells. Transfer into germ cells has been achieved to produce transgenic animals. The replication-defective retroviral vector used for transfer may be a recombinant retroviral vector containing both a retroviral derived nucleic acid sequence and a non-retroviral derived nucleic acid sequence. Examples of non-retroviral nucleic acid sequences are a neomycin resistance gene from the bacterial transposon Tn5, a herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase gene and a chicken growth hormone gene, however, any prokaryotic or eukaryotic nucleic acid sequence of interest may be used. Transgenic chickens have been produced whose cells contain and express a replication-defective retroviral vector nucleic acid sequence.

Abstract: Murine-derived hybridoma tumor cell lines and monoclonal anti-Colony Stimulating Factor Subclass Number 1 antibody substances produced by these cell lines. Use of said monoclonal antibody substances, alone or in combination, in immunological procedures for isolation of natural Colony Stimulating Factor Subclass Number 1 and for quantitative detection of colony Stimulating Factor Subclass Number 1 in fluid samples.