The Graft of Autologous Adipose-Derived Stem Cells in the Corneal Stromal after Mechanic Damage

Abstract

This study was designed to explore the feasibility of using autologous rabbit adipose derived stem cells (rASCs) as seed cells and polylactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) as a scaffold for repairing corneal stromal defects. rASCs isolated from rabbit nape adipose tissue were expanded and seeded on a PLGA scaffold to fabricate cell-scaffold constructs. After 1 week of cultivation in vitro, the cell-scaffold complexes were transplanted into corneal stromal defects in rabbits. In vivo, the autologous rASCs-PLGA constructed corneal stroma gradually became transparent without corneal neovascularization after 12 weeks. Hematoxylin and eosin staining and transmission electron microscopy examination revealed that their histological structure and collagen fibril distribution at 24 weeks after implantation were similar to native counterparts. As to the defect treated with PLGA alone, the stromal defects remained. And scar tissue was observed in the untreated-group. The implanted autologous ASCs survived up to 24 weeks post-transplantation and differentiated into functional keratocytes, as assessed by the expression of aldehyde-3-dehydrogenase1A1 (ALDH1A1) and cornea-specific proteoglycan keratocan. Our results revealed that autologous rASCs could be one of the cell sources for corneal stromal restoration in diseased corneas or for tissue engineering of a corneal equivalent.

Progress in corneal wound healing

“…When these cells were injected into wounded corneas, these cells prevented fibrotic scar formation and contributed to the regeneration of stromal ECM with lamellar structure and collagen organization typical for normal corneas (Basu et al, 2014). Overall, these studies open up new avenues for fibrosis treatment with a possibility for using autologous sources, such as limbal biopsies or adipose derived stem cells (Ma et al, 2013). …”

Concise Reviews: Can Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Differentiate into Corneal Cells? A Systematic Review of Published Data

“…The majority of studies have been performed using MSC derived from either bone marrow (13 studies) [13, 14, 17, 22–24, 38–40, 43, 47, 48, 50] or adipose tissue (9 studies) [19, 33, 35, 42, 44–46, 49, 51], with the remainder using MSC extracted from either umbilical cord tissues (4 studies) or dental pulp (2 studies) . Most studies have used cultures of MSC established from human tissues (19 studies) [13, 18–20, 23, 24, 33–39, 41, 42, 45, 46, 49, 51], with the balance having been established from rabbits (5 studies) , rats (3 studies) , and mice (1 study) .…”

“…The majority of studies have been performed using MSC derived from either bone marrow (13 studies) [13, 14, 17, 22-24, 38-40, 43, 47, 48, 50] or adipose tissue (9 studies) [19, 33, 35, 42, 44-46, 49, 51], with the remainder using MSC extracted from either umbilical cord tissues (4 studies) [20,34,36,41] or dental pulp (2 studies) [18,37]. Most studies have used cultures of MSC established from human tissues (19 studies) [13, 18-20, 23, 24, 33-39, 41, 42, 45, 46, 49, 51], with the balance having been established from rabbits (5 studies) [14,17,43,44,48], rats (3 studies) [40,47,50], and mice (1 study) [22]. A large proportion of studies (19 studies) [13, 14, 17, 18, 20, 22, 24, 33-35, 37, 38, 40, 42-44, 47-49] have involved in vivo experiments, with 11 studies involving administration of human MSC into rabbits (6 studies) [18,33,35,37,38,42], rats (3 studies) [13,24,49], or mice (2 studies) [20,34].…”

Microencapsulated rabbit adipose stem cells initiate tissue regeneration in a rabbit ear defect model

“…rbASCs have been used in tissue regeneration models for bone, cartilage, and cornea, but it has not been explicitly demonstrated that these stem cells are multipotent (Bahrani et al, ; De Girolamo et al, ; Ma, Bao, Cui, & Zou, ). Our results show that, like rat and human ASCs (Gimble, Katz, & Bunnell, ; Zuk, ), rbASCs are multipotent and are able to differentiate along chondrogenic, osteogenic, and adipogenic lineages.…”