In vitro and in vivo differentiation of human embryonic stem cells into retina-like organs and comparison with that from mouse pluripotent epiblast stem cells.
Correctly inducing the differentiation of pluripotent hESCs to a specific lineage with high purity is highly desirable for regenerative cell therapy. Our first effort to perform in vitro differentiation of hESCs resulted in a limited recapitulation of the ocular tissue structures. When undifferentiated hESCs were placed in vivo into the ocular tissue, in this case into the vitreous cavity, 3-dimensional retina-like structures reminiscent of the invagination of the optic vesicle were generated. Immunohistochemical analysis confirmed the presence of both a neural retina-like cell layer and a retinal pigmented epithelium-like cell layer, possibly equivalent to the developing E12.5 mouse retina. Furthermore, mouse epiblast-derived stem cells, which are reported to share some characteristics with hESCs, but not with mouse ESCs, also generated retinal anlage-like structures in vivo. hESC-derived retina-like structures present a novel therapeutic possibility for retinal diseases and also provide a novel experimental system to study early human eye development.
Aoki
Hitomi
H
Department of Tissue and Organ Development, Regeneration, and Advanced Medical Science, Gifu University Graduate School of Medicine, Gifu, Japan.
Hara
Akira
A
Niwa
Masayuki
M
Yamada
Yasuhiro
Y
Kunisada
Takahiro
T
D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000637:transplantation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008819:Mice, Nude; D039904:Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000637:transplantation; D012160:Retina / Q000166:cytology* / Q000196:embryology*; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation