Facile isolation and the characterization of human retinal stem cells

摘要: This study identifies and characterizes retinal stem cells (RSCs) in early postnatal to seventh-decade human eyes. Different subregions of eyes were dissociated cultured by using a clonal sphere-forming assay. The derived only from the pars plicata plana ciliary margin, at frequency ≈1:500. To test for long-term self-renewal, both sphere assay monolayer passaging used. By single assay, primary spheres replated, individual demonstrated 100% with giving rise one or more new each subsequent passage. plated under differentiation conditions potential their progeny. produced all different cell types, demonstrating multipotentiality. Therefore, eye contains small population (≈10,000 per eye) that have stem-cell characteristics (proliferation, multipotentiality). vivo progeny, we transplanted cells, containing progenitors, into day 1 NOD/SCID mice embryonic chick progeny RSCs able survive, migrate, integrate, differentiate neural retina, especially as photoreceptors. Their facile isolation, integration, suggest eventually may be valuable treating diseases.