title: Human bone marrow stromal cells can differentiate to a retinal pigment epithelial phenotype when co-cultured with pig retinal pigment epithelium using a transwell system.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There is an increasing interest in generating retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells from stem cells for therapy against degenerative eye diseases. Human bone marrow stromal cells (hBMSCs) can be induced to express retinal neuron-specific markers when co-cultured with retinal neurons, however, whether hBMSCs can differentiate into RPE-like cells in a co-culture system has not been clarified.
  
  
  METHODS
  The induction of hBMSCs into RPE-like cells was performed by combining hBMSCs and pig RPE cells in a transwell system. The biomarkers of hBMSCs-derived RPE cells were determined by quantitative RT-PCR and immunofluorescence. The function of induced cells was assayed by ELISA for secretion of neurotrophic factors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Intracellular pigment granules and many RPE markers existed in hBMSCs-derived RPE cells after co-culturing with pig RPE cells for 14 days. Typical RPE functions, such as phagocytosis of photoreceptor outer segments and secretion of the trophic factors, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and glia-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), were observed in these induced cells.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  hBMSCs can be induced toward functional RPE cells simply by transwell-based co-culture with RPE cells.
authors: Southwest Eye Hospital, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors: Ping
authors: P
authors: Duan
authors: Haiwei
authors: H
authors: Xu
authors: Yuxiao
authors: Y
authors: Zeng
authors: Yi
authors: Y
authors: Wang
authors: Zheng Qin
authors: ZQ
authors: Yin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000378:metabolism; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D018920:Coculture Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation; D051100:Glial Cell Line-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D009414:Nerve Growth Factors / Q000378:metabolism; D010587:Phagocytosis; D010641:Phenotype; D055213:Retinal Pigment Epithelium / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D013552:Swine
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; D051100:Glial Cell Line-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; D009414:Nerve Growth Factors