Conjunctival epithelial cells can resurface denuded cornea, but do not transdifferentiate to express cornea-specific keratin 12 following removal of limbal epithelium in mouse

Requirement for Pax6 in corneal morphogenesis: a role in adhesion

“…We confirmed that cells in the corneal epithelial region were bona fide corneal epithelial cells based on their expression of K12 mRNA and protein, a marker for corneal but not conjunctival epithelial cells (Liu et al, 1994;Moyer et al, 1996). A robust hybridization signal was observed for K12 mRNA in wild-type corneal epithelium using an antisense (Fig.…”

“…Nevertheless, a few corneas produced K4 in the corneal epithelial region of the ocular surface, but only if there was a severe reduction in the epithelium (to one or two cell layers), suggesting that conjunctivalization, a response associated with a deficiency in limbal stem cells and known to occur in human aniridia patients, might also occur in the small-eye syndrome of the mouse (Daniels et al, 2001;Dua and Azuara-Blanco, 2000;Moyer et al, 1996). In the present study, several reduced-thickness epithelia were immunoreactive for K4 on the top and K12 on the bottom cell layer (data not shown), suggesting that a dynamic process of corneal epithelial loss and conjunctival epithelium resurfacing might take place in some cases.…”

Therapeutic effects of adenoviral gene transfer of bone morphogenic protein-7 on a corneal alkali injury model in mice

“…The following antibodies were used: rabbit polyclonal anti-phosphorylated Smad2 antibody (1:100 dilution in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), Chemicon, Temecula, CA, USA), goat polyclonal anti-Smad1/ 5/8 antibody (1:100 in PBS, Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Santa Cruz, CA, USA), rabbit polyclonal antikeratin 12 antibody 41,42 (1 mg/ml in PBS), mouse monoclonal anti-aSMA antibody (1:100 dilution in PBS, Neomarker, Fremont, CA, USA), goat polyclonal anti-type IV collagen antibody (1:100 in PBS, Southern Biotechnology, Birmingham, AL, USA), and rat monoclonal anti-CD31 (PECAM) antibody (1:100 in PBS, Santa Cruz). Immunohistochemistry for TGF-b1-3 was performed as previously reported.…”

“…At Day 10, corneas in the Cre-Ad group were characterized by greater inflammation in the stroma and anterior chamber compared to BMP-7-Ad-treated eyes ( Figure 2C(c,g)). The absence of staining for keratin 12, which is expressed in corneal, but not conjunctival epithelium, 41,42 showed that the regenerated epithelium in both Cre-Ad-and BMP-7-Adtreated groups was of conjunctival origin with the total loss of limbal corneal epithelial stem cells (Saika et al, data in submission 2004). At Day 20, corneas in the Cre-Ad group were, on average, thicker than corneas in the BMP-7-Ad group, which had remodeled to a nearly normal thickness ( Figure 2C(a,d,h)); regenerated epithelium contained goblet cells regardless of whether the cornea was treated with Cre-Ad or BMP-7-Ad, although the epithelium remained thicker in the Cre-Ad group (arrows, Figure 2C(e,i)).…”

Ocular surface epithelia contain ABCG2-dependent side population cells exhibiting features associated with stem cells

“…These two closely related but distinct cell lineages (Kruse et al, 1990;Wei et al, 1993;Wei et al, 1996;Moyer et al, 1996), arise simultaneously from a few PAX6-positive ectodermal cells that remain in the embryonic ectodermal surface following formation of the lens vesicle by the bulk of the PAX6 + cells (Davis and Reed, 1996;Koroma et al, 1997;Wolosin et al, 2002).…”