Purpose. The purpose of this work was to evaluate the retinal integration and differentiation of neurospheres formed by stem cells and mouse neural progenitor cells injected intravitreally in mice eyes with retinal injury. Methods. Eight male C57BL mice, 8 weeks old, were submitted to intraperitoneal injection of sodium iodate (2% NaIO3, 50 mg/kg). After 72 hours, 2 μ L of solution with mNPC were injected intravitreally (100.000 cells/ μ L). After 7 days, their eyes were dissected and cryoprotected in 30% sucrose in PB for at least 24 hours at 4°C. The material was analyzed by immunohistochemistry and the following primary antibodies evaluation. Results. The results showed that the grafted cells integrated and survived in the adult mice within the sinner retinal tissue for at least 7 days. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed mature neuronal pattern in some regions. The mNPC population in the transplants was tightly surrounded by neuroretinal cells, suggesting their active role in neuron survival. Notably, the appearance of GFP-positive mNPC was not the result of fusion between donor cells and endogenous neuroretinal cells. Conclusions. Migration, survival, and differentiation of mNPCs were observed after 7 days following a single application with neurosphere method. The results may be clinically relevant for future stem cell therapy to restore retinal degeneration.
Keyphrases
- stem cells
- induced apoptosis
- optical coherence tomography
- cell cycle arrest
- cell therapy
- diabetic retinopathy
- endoplasmic reticulum stress
- cell death
- oxidative stress
- young adults
- risk assessment
- type diabetes
- brain injury
- mesenchymal stem cells
- blood brain barrier
- optic nerve
- skeletal muscle
- pi k akt
- preterm birth
- bone marrow
- ultrasound guided
- wild type