Transdifferentiation of Rat Hair Follicle Stem Cells to Epithelium-Like Cells Induced by Stroma of Limbus Corneae
January 2008
in “
Di-san junyi daxue xuebao
”
Studysummary This study found that hair follicle stem cells from young rats can be induced in vitro to differentiate into corneal epithelium-like cells using homogenate of rabbit corneal limbal stroma. Our plain-language summary of this paper — not a Tressless recommendation.
The study investigated the potential for hair follicle stem cells from 7-to 8-day-old SD rats to differentiate into epithelium-like cells when induced by rabbit corneal limbal stroma. The researchers found that these stem cells, which expressed α 6-integrin and CD34, could be induced to express Keratin-12 (K12) after 10 days, as confirmed by immunocytochemistry and RT-PCR. Flow cytometry also showed a significant rate of K12-positive cells, indicating successful differentiation into corneal epithelium-like cells in vitro.