Primary Cell Culture of Retinal Stem Cells (RSCS) from the Ciliary Margin

Retinal diseases such as dry AMD, retinitis pigmentosa and many others are still non-curable or currently used therapeutic approaches are insufficiently effective. Furthermore, their pathogenesis remains poorly understood. Major abnormalities are seen in four functionally interrelated tissues, i.e., photoreceptors, retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), Bruch's membrane and choriocapillaries. Stem cell therapy showed favorable outcomes. Retinal stem cells (RSCs) are present during embryonic development; they persist in quiescent forms in the adult mammalian eye in the ciliary marginal zone. They have the ability to differentiate into different retinal cell type. Thus, they are promising for developing stem cell-based treatments for retinal diseases.

For this reason, our laboratory is involved in investigation based on human RSCs. We develop collaboration with Universitary Hospital of Valladolid for obtaining human eye globes for isolating ans cultivating pure fresh human RSCs using our established protocols. Furthermore, porcine eye resembles with human eye in many properties such as similar size, anatomy, and histology.

Furthermore, retinal development in pig eye shows substantial similarity to human retinal development. These characteristics make pig eyes and their RSCs an ideal model for performing pre-clinical tests. For this reason, our laboratory is involved in investigation based on pig RSCs. We developed a collaboration with the local slaughterhouse for obtaining pig eye globes for isolating and cultivating pure fresh pig RSCs using our established protocols. In summary, we offer fresh pure human and porcine RSCs for investigation purposes.