Observation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells after subretinally transplanted into laser-injured rat retina

Jie Zhang*, Qing Shan, Ping Ma, Yan ming Jiang, Peng Chen, Jing xia Wen, You Zhou, Huan wen Qian, Xue tao Pei

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) develop into hematopoietic and mesenchymal lineages but have not been known to participate in production of retina. Eye was known as an immunologically privileged organ. Because of its special structure, it's difficult for blood cells to enter retina. This article is to trace bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell (MSCs) after subretinally transplanted into Nd: YAG laser-injured rat retinal without in vitro differentiation induction. METHOD: 4', 6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI)-labeled MSCs were used to trace the change of MSCs after transplantation on day 10, 20, 35 and 50. The sequenced sections were used for Immunohistochemistry identification for neuronal nuclei (NeuN), neuron specific enolase (NSE), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and pancytokeratin (CK). Electroretinogram (ERG) b waves were recorded for each eye of the laser injured group, the laser injured transplanted group and the laser injured with saline injection control group before, right after or at every end of 1 to 7 weeks. RESULTS: On day 10, the DAPI positive cells were mainly crowded around the transplanted site. On day 20 the positive area enlarged and scattered into RPE layer, photoreceptor layer, bipolar layer and ganglion cell layer. Then the positive area enlarged more widely on day 35 and more cells could be found migrate to the lesion site. The positive area didn't enlarge much on day 50 than on day 35. No formation of rosettes was found during the observation. But the expression of NeuN, NSE, GFAP and CK was not uniform as the normal retina. Cell proliferation was still found. But HE staining showed that the lesion in the transplanted group was better than that of the control group. Correspondingly ERG b-wave value at week 5 was higher than the control group. CONCLUSION: From these cells, a proportion of the cells regenerated from bone marrow can be differentiated into retina in vivo. Although the MSCs-derived cells could not precisely express neuro-like proteins, they could help recover lesion and ERG b-wave value.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1993-1998
Number of pages6
JournalZhonghua yi xue za zhi
Volume83
Issue number22
Publication statusPublished - 25 Nov 2003
Externally publishedYes

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