After successful application of stem cell in mouse model, the Swiss researchers have published a study to show how the cornea uses stem cells to repair itself.

In the mouse model,they have already found that everyday wear and tear on the cornea is repaired from stem cells residing in the corneal epithelium, and that more serious repair jobs require the involvement of other stem cells that migrate from the limbus, a region between the cornea and the conjunctiva, the white part of the eye.

The integrity of the cornea, the transparent outer layer of the eye, is critical for vision. Millions of people around the world suffer from partial or complete blindness when their corneas lose transparency. Treatment options involve corneal transplants and, more recently, stem cell therapy.

The surface of the cornea is naturally in a state of constant renewal; its upper layer, or epithelium, is completely turned over once every 7-14 days. Because slow-cycling stem cells have been found in the mouse limbus, researchers have assumed that these stem cells are the ones responsible for corneal renewal.

The research led by Professor Yann Barrandon, who holds a joint appointment at EPFL and the Lausanne University Hospitals (CHUV), challenges this prevailing opinion that the limbus is the only place where corneal stem cells reside.

The limbus is already recognized as a source of cells for corneal stem cell therapy in humans, and this new research indicates that the cornea itself can also be explored as a potential source of these cells. And because cancer has been associated with the presence of adult stem cells, the model also helps explain why transitional zones like the limbus, where stem cells accumulate, are sites where cancer tends to occur more frequently.

Source: Medical News Today