Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Histochemistry, Fujita Health University Joint Research Laboratory, 1-98 Dengakugakubo, Kutsukake-cho, Toyoake, Aichi 470-1192, Japan.
In Vitro Cell Dev Biol Anim. 2010 Oct;46(9):774-80. doi: 10.1007/s11626-010-9344-9. Epub 2010 Sep 16.
Stem/progenitor cells of the human corneal epithelium are present in the human corneal limbus, and several corneal epithelial stem/progenitor cell markers have been reported. Recently, the neurotrophin family receptors were reported to be useful markers of corneal epithelial stem/progenitor cells. Therefore, we examined an enzymatic separation method for obtaining corneal epithelial stem/progenitor cells and measuring the change in the expression of low-affinity neurotrophin receptor p75 (p75(NTR)), a receptor belonging to the neurotrophin family. As a result, it was found that our separation method preserved cell viability. Furthermore, p75(NTR) was mainly observed in epithelial basal cells as were the corneal epithelial stem/progenitor markers p63 and integrin β1. p75(NTR) was also observed in the cultured cells, but its frequency decreased with passage. In conclusion, we propose that our culture method will enable the culture of corneal stem cells and that it is a useful tool for elucidating the molecular basis of the niche that is necessary for the maintenance of epithelial stem cells in the corneal limbus. Furthermore, we conclude that p75(NTR) is a useful cell marker for evaluating the characteristics of stem/progenitor cells in culture.
人眼角膜上皮的干细胞/祖细胞存在于人眼角膜缘，并且已经报道了几种角膜上皮干细胞/祖细胞标志物。最近，神经营养因子家族受体被报道为角膜上皮干细胞/祖细胞的有用标志物。因此，我们检查了一种酶分离方法，以获得角膜上皮干细胞/祖细胞，并测量低亲和力神经营养因子受体 p75（p75（NTR））表达的变化，p75（NTR）属于神经营养因子家族的受体。结果发现，我们的分离方法保持了细胞活力。此外，p63 和整合素 β1 等角膜上皮干细胞/祖细胞标志物主要存在于上皮基底层细胞中。p75（NTR）也存在于培养的细胞中，但随着传代其频率降低。总之，我们提出我们的培养方法将能够培养角膜干细胞，并且是阐明维持角膜缘上皮干细胞所需的生态位的分子基础的有用工具。此外，我们得出结论，p75（NTR）是评估培养中干细胞/祖细胞特性的有用细胞标志物。
