April 2011
Volume 52, Issue 14
Free
ARVO Annual Meeting Abstract  |   April 2011
N-cadherin-expressing Conjunctival Epithelial Cells Have Strong Stem-cell Properties
Author Affiliations & Notes
  • Hideki Fukuoka
    Ophthalmology, Kyoto Prefectural Univ of Med, Kyoto, Japan
  • Satoshi Kawasaki
    Ophthalmology, Kyoto Prefectural Univ of Med, Kyoto, Japan
  • Norihiko Yokoi
    Ophthalmology, Kyoto Prefectural Univ of Med, Kyoto, Japan
  • Shigeru Kinoshita
    Ophthalmology, Kyoto Prefectural Univ of Med, Kyoto, Japan
  • Footnotes
    Commercial Relationships  Hideki Fukuoka, None; Satoshi Kawasaki, None; Norihiko Yokoi, None; Shigeru Kinoshita, None
  • Footnotes
    Support  None
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science April 2011, Vol.52, 2582. doi:
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      Hideki Fukuoka, Satoshi Kawasaki, Norihiko Yokoi, Shigeru Kinoshita; N-cadherin-expressing Conjunctival Epithelial Cells Have Strong Stem-cell Properties. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 2011;52(14):2582.

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      © ARVO (1962-2015); The Authors (2016-present)

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Abstract

Purpose: : It has recently been reported that N-cadherin plays an important role in maintaining the stem-cell properties of corneal epithelial cells. The aim of this study is to investigate the role of N-cadherin in the maintenance of the properties in conjunctival epithelial cells.

Methods: : After cell dissociation by the consecutive use of Dispase and trypsin, conjunctival epithelial cells were magnetically sorted into N-cadherin positive cells and negative cells. For those cells, colony forming ability and expression analysis against various types of undifferentiated and differentiated markers was conducted.

Results: : N-cadherin was mainly expressed in the basal layer of conjunctival epithelial cells. N-cadherin-positive conjunctival epithelial cells had higher colony-forming ability compared with the N-cadherin-negative cells. N-cadherin-positive cells had a relatively large cell size and expressed cytokeratin 13, but not cytokeratin 4. On the other hand, N-cadherin-negative cells had a relatively small cell size and expressed both cytokeratin 13 and cytokeratin 4. N-cadherin-positive cells expressed a significantly high level of Cytokeratin 15 and p63, which are known to be undifferentiated markers.

Conclusions: : Considering the high colony-forming ability and high expression of the undifferentiated markers, N-cadherin-positive conjunctival epithelial cells seem to have an undifferentiated status, strongly suggesting that these cells are conjunctival epithelial stem cells.

Keywords: conjunctiva 
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