Experimental transplantation of corneal epithelium-like cells induced by Pax6 gene transfection of mouse embryonic stem cells.

Purpose: Corneal epithelial stem cells are deficient in cases of limbal disorders, leading to conjunctival epithelial ingrowth, vascularization, and eventually visual disturbance. We introduced the eye development-associated transcription factor pax6 to embryonic stem (ES) cells and tested whether pax6-transfected cells resembling purified corneal epithelial cells were applicable as a cell source for corneal transplantation.

Methods: pax6 cDNA with green fluorescence protein was electrotransfected to ES cells and the cells were cultured with G418 for 14 days.

Induction of epithelial progenitors in vitro from mouse embryonic stem cells and application for reconstruction of damaged cornea in mice.

Purpose: Severe ocular surface diseases and injuries cause loss of the corneal limbal epithelium, leading to re-epithelialization by bulbar conjunctival cells, resulting in vascularization of the cornea, conjunctival scarring, and loss of visual acuity. In this study, the optimal culture condition for induction of differentiation of epithelial progenitor cells from embryonic stem (ES) cells was determined for use in transplantation to damaged cornea in mice.

Methods: Mouse ES cells were cultured on Petri dishes coated with several extracellular matrix proteins, and the markers for epithelial cells were analyzed with RT-PCR and Western blot analysis.