Generation of Retinal Progenitor Cells from Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Spherical Neural Mass

Spherical neural mass (SNM) is a mass of neural precursors that have been used to generate neuronal cells with advantages of long-term passaging capability with high yield, easy storage, and thawing. In this study, we differentiated neural retinal progenitor cells (RPCs) from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC)-derived SNMs. RPCs were differentiated from SNMs with a noggin/fibroblast growth factor-basic/Dickkopf-1/Insulin-like growth factor-1/fibroblast growth factor-9 protocol for three weeks. Human RPCs expressed eye field markers (Paired box 6) and early neural retinal markers (Ceh-10 homeodomain containing homolog), but did not photoreceptor marker (Opsin 1 short-wave-sensitive). Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction revealed that early neural retinal markers (Mammalian achaete-scute complex homolog 1, mouse atonal homolog 5, neurogenic differentiation 1) and retinal fate markers (brain-specific homeobox/POU domain transcription factor 3B and recoverin) were upregulated, while the marker of retinal pigment epithelium (microphthalmia-associated transcription factor) only showed slight upregulation. Human RPCs were transplanted into mouse (adult 8 weeks old C57BL/6) retina. Cells transplanted into the mouse retina matured and expressed markers of mature retinal cells (Opsin 1 short-wave-sensitive) and human nuclei on immunohistochemistry three months after transplantation. Development of RPCs using SNMs may offer a fast and useful method for neural retinal cell differentiation.

Effect of azone on intraocular permeability of basic fibroblast growth factor / 中华实验眼科杂志

Background Many researches confirmed that basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF)plays an important role on the proliferation and differentiation of retinal progenitor cells,but its low intraocular permeability limits its clinical application.To explore an effective approach to enhance the intraocular permeability of bFGF has an important significance for the treatment of retinopathy. Objective This study was to investigate the effect of azone on bFGF intraocular permeability after its topical administration. Methods Eighteen New Zealand white rabbits were randomly divided into four groups on random number table method.Distilled water( blank control group),5％ bFGF eyedrops(5％ bFGF group ),0.4％ azone+5％ bFGF eyedrops (0.4％ azone + 5％ bFGF group ) and 0.4％ azone+ 10％ bFGF eyedrops (0.4％ azone + 10％ bFGF group)were topically administered in different groups at 5- minute interval for 3 times.Aqueous and vitreous fluid were extracted 30 minutes after administration of eyedrops,and those in the 0.4％ azone + 5％ bFGF group were obtained 30,60 and 120 minutes after administration.bFGF concentration in the aqueous and vitreous fluid was quantified with ELISA. Results The bFGF levels(A value)in aqueous and vitreous fluid were 0.1007±0.0100 and 0.1340±0.0100 after topical administration of the 5％ bFGF eyedrops,those in blank control group were 0.1363 ±0.0100 and 0.1130±0.0100,respectively,and those in the 0.4％ azone+5％ bFGF group and 0.4％ azone+10％ bFGF group were significantly higher than the 5％ bFGF group ( both P=0.000).However,no significant difference was found in bFGF levels between 0.4％ azone+5％ bFGF group and 0.4％ azone + 10％ bFGF groups in both aqueous and vitreous fluid ( P =0.985,0.098 ).A value of bFGF in aqueous was gradually increased with prolong of time in the 0.4％ azone+5％ bFGF group,with the values 0.9413±0.0300 at 30 minutes,0.3865±0.0300 at 60 minutes,and 0.2550±0.0300 at 120 minutes,showing a positive linear correlation between bFGF level and time( R2 =0.736,P =0.003 ),but no significant correlation was seen in vitreous sample(R2=0.196,P=0.233). Conclusions Azone can improve the intraocular penetration of bFGF eyedrops.Increasing the concentration of bFGF in eyedrop from 5％ to 10％ dose not change its intraocular distribution.The highest content of the bFGF in aqueous is at 30 minutes following the administration of 0.4％ azone+5％ bFGF eyedrops.