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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
Author(s) -
Aoki Hitomi,
Hara Akira,
Niwa Masayuki,
Yamada Yasuhiro,
Kunisada Takahiro
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
developmental dynamics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.634
H-Index - 141
eISSN - 1097-0177
pISSN - 1058-8388
DOI - 10.1002/dvdy.22008
Subject(s) - biology , retina , embryonic stem cell , microbiology and biotechnology , epiblast , induced pluripotent stem cell , optic vesicle , retinal , muller glia , stem cell , cellular differentiation , anatomy , eye development , embryogenesis , progenitor cell , neuroscience , embryo , genetics , gastrulation , biochemistry , gene , phenotype
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. Developmental Dynamics 238:2266–2279, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.