Homeostatic Maintenance of the Murine Corneal Epithelium in Pathophysiological Contexts

In this discussion, the authors highlight the murine cornea as a powerful model for stem cell research, revealing new insights into stem cell properties, differentiation flexibility, and the importance of the stem cell niche, with potential implications for understanding various tissues, diseases, and therapies.

This study found that dedifferentiated corneal epithelial cells can revert to a stem-cell-like state, aiding tissue homeostasis and repair, with this plasticity limited to the epithelial lineage and enhanced by niche-derived cytokines.

This study reported that distinct stem/progenitor populations in the ocular surface epithelium have different cell division frequencies and respond differently to injury, with specific spatial compartmentalization and migration behaviors.

This review summarizes recent insights into corneal limbal stem cell differentiation and the potential role of progenitor-like cells, but reports no new experimental results.

This study found that the ocular surface epithelium in mice contains distinct stem cell populations with unique cell division dynamics that change behaviorally in response to different levels of injury.