Hiramatsu Noriko, Yamamoto Naoki, Kato Yu, Nagai Noriaki, Isogai Sumito, Imaizumi Kazuyoshi
Support Office for Bioresource Research, Research Promotion Headquarters, Fujita Health University, Toyoake, Aichi 470-1192, Japan.
Graduate School of Health Sciences, Research Promotion and Support Headquarters, Fujita Health University, Toyoake, Aichi 470-1192, Japan.
Exp Ther Med. 2022 Jun 28;24(2):539. doi: 10.3892/etm.2022.11476. eCollection 2022 Aug.
Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells are widely used as a research tool in regenerative medicine and embryology. In studies related to lens regeneration in the eye, iPS cells have been reported to differentiate into lens epithelial cells (LECs); however, to the best of our knowledge, no study to date has described their formation of three-dimensional cell aggregates. Notably, studies in newts have revealed that iris cells in the eye can dedifferentiate into LECs and regenerate a new lens. Thus, as basic research on lens regeneration, the present study investigated the differentiation of human iris tissue-derived cells and human iris tissue-derived iPS cells into LECs and their formation of three-dimensional cell aggregates using a combination of two-dimensional culture, static suspension culture and rotational suspension culture. The results revealed that three-dimensional cell aggregates were formed and differentiated into LECs expressing αA-crystallin, a specific marker protein for LECs, suggesting that the cell-cell interaction facilitated by cell aggregation may have a critical role in enabling highly efficient differentiation of LECs. However, the present study was unable to achieve transparency in the cell aggregates; therefore, we aim to continue to investigate the degradation of organelles and other materials necessary to make the interior of the formed cell aggregates transparent. Furthermore, we aim to expand on our current work to study the regeneration of the lens and ciliary body as a whole , with the aim of being able to restore focusing function after cataract surgery.
诱导多能干细胞(iPS细胞)在再生医学和胚胎学中被广泛用作研究工具。在与眼睛晶状体再生相关的研究中,有报道称iPS细胞可分化为晶状体上皮细胞(LECs);然而,据我们所知,迄今为止尚无研究描述它们形成三维细胞聚集体的情况。值得注意的是,对蝾螈的研究表明,眼睛中的虹膜细胞可以去分化为LECs并再生出新的晶状体。因此,作为晶状体再生的基础研究,本研究使用二维培养、静态悬浮培养和旋转悬浮培养相结合的方法,研究了人虹膜组织来源的细胞和人虹膜组织来源的iPS细胞向LECs的分化及其三维细胞聚集体的形成。结果显示,形成了三维细胞聚集体,并分化为表达αA-晶状体蛋白的LECs,αA-晶状体蛋白是LECs的一种特异性标记蛋白,这表明细胞聚集促进的细胞间相互作用可能在使LECs高效分化中起关键作用。然而,本研究未能使细胞聚集体达到透明状态;因此,我们旨在继续研究细胞器和其他使形成的细胞聚集体内部透明所需物质的降解情况。此外,我们旨在扩展当前的工作,研究整个晶状体和睫状体的再生,以期能够在白内障手术后恢复聚焦功能。