Experimental Transplantation of Human Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells on Collagen Substrates

Inner limiting membrane as membranous support in RPE sheet-transplantation

“…On the other hand this membrane was very soft and difficult to handle and the thickness, which compared to one third of the retina itself, may act as a barrier of the bidirectional transport at the basal RPE interface. In contrast, cross-linked collagen was more amenable to manipulation during implantation, but the overlying retina was disarrayed [10]. In another study, human fetal retinal pigment epithelial (HFRPE) cells seem to attach and proliferate well on autologous cryoprecipitate membrane that is obtained when fresh frozen plasma is thawed, refrozen and stiffened by addition of a photosensitizer.…”

“…Transplanted RPE cells have been shown to deteriorate within 24 hours, if attachment to Bruch's membrane has not occurred [4]. Several studies have therefore investigated different substrates and cells such as cryoprecipitated extracellular matrix membranes [5], anterior lens capsule [6], cadaver Bruch's membrane [7], Descemet's membrane [8], synthetic biodegradable polymer films [9], collagen type I [10], microspheres of cross-linked fibrinogen [11], non-degradable polymer substrates [3] and amniotic membrane [12,13].…”

Differentiation of Pluripotent Stem Cells into Retinal Pigmented Epithelium

“…Natural polymers could be more advantageous and are currently being purified and used to grow hESC-RPE and iPSC-RPE. ECM proteins secreted from RPE [120] and corneal endothelial cells [120,121], isolated gelatins and collagens [117,120,[122][123][124][125], alginates [108], hyaluronic acid [108], fibrinogens [126], vitronectin [117,118], laminins [117,118,121], and fibronectins [118,121] all can support RPE growth. In addition to human purified proteins, a combination of ECM proteins derived from the mouse Englebreth-Holm-Swarm tumor called Matrigel is also efficient for culturing RPE [124].…”

A tissue-engineered approach towards retinal repair: Scaffolds for cell transplantation to the subretinal space

“…One of the first scaffolds tested in the subretinal space was made of collagen [134]. Collagen is a major component of BM [52], making it a natural choice for a RPE substrate.…”