Identification of small Sca-1+, Lin−, CD45− multipotential cells in the neonatal murine retina
Received 14 April 2009; received in revised form 21 May 2009; accepted 29 May 2009. published online 18 June 2009.
Refers to erratum:
Erratum
, 30 December 2009 Experimental Hematology
February 2010 (Vol. 38, Issue 2, Page 163) Full Text |
Full-Text PDF (62 KB)
Objective
Bone marrow contains a subset of stem cells that give rise to nonhematopoietic lineages. These nonhematopoietic stem cells appear heterogeneous and contain cells committed to mesenchymal and endothelial lineages, as well as more primitive multipotential cells resembling progenitors of germ cells and very small embryonic/epiblast-like stem cells (VSELs). Nonhematopoietic stem cells can be mobilized from the bone marrow in response to tissue injury, and cells with similar properties have been found in cord blood and normal adult organs. However, the relationship between bone marrow cells and these adult organ stem cells is still unclear. The differentiation potential of some adult stem cells is organ-restricted, but other populations appear to retain multipotential capacity.
Materials and Methods
A population of small Sca-1+, lineage-negative (Lin−), CD45− cells resembling VSELs were isolated from neonatal mouse retina by cell sorting. Differentiation of the cells in culture was achieved by exposure to embryonic stem cell differentiation protocols.
Results
VSEL-like cells comprise 1.5% of the neonatal mouse retina. They remain quiescent during retinal differentiation, and thus they do not contribute to normal retinal development. However, they display eye cell differentiation potential in culture and they are also multipotential and can give rise to cells representative of all three embryonic layers.
Conclusions
The neonatal retina is an abundant postnatal source of multipotential VSEL-like cells that can differentiate in culture into a variety of lineages.
aDepartment of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Louisville Health Sciences Center, Louisville, Ky., USA
bJames Brown Cancer Center, University of Louisville Health Sciences Center, Louisville, Ky., USA
cDepartment of Ophthalmology, the Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
dStem Cell Institute, University of Louisville Health Sciences Center, Louisville, Ky., USA
Offprint requests to: Douglas C. Dean, Ph.D., University of Louisville Health Sciences Center, 301 E. Muhammad Ali Boulevard, Louisville, KY 40202
∗ Drs. Liu and Gao contributed equally to the studies.
† Current address: Department of Ophthalmology, Inselspital, University of Bern, 3010 Bern, Switzerland.
ABSTRACT