Abstract
Purpose::
Conjunctival fibrosis pathologies are difficult to treat and often recurrent. A cellular therapy study using mesenchymal stem cells from bone marrow was performed in order to improve the therapeutic results.
Methods::
An original symblepharon rabbit model was created. The fornix was reconstructed with an amniotic covered membrane, either using mesenchymal stem cells (MA/MSC), or conjunctival fibroblasts (MA/Fibro.) or with a single amniotic membrane (MA).
Results::
In the symblepharon model a loss of anatomy occurs with an average depth reduction of 60 % and a loss of function with goblet cell disappearance. After reconstruction, we had an anatomical restoration in both the operated eyes with a depth close to normal 10 ± 2, 11 ± 3 ET 9 ± 2 mm respectively in the MA/MSC, MA and MA/fibroblasts group. The difference between the groups was not considered statistically significant (p>0.05).The analysis of the conjunctival phenotype by immunochemistry MUC5ac showed a statistically higher density (p<0.05) of goblet cells in the MA/MSC 109 ± 25 group, than in the MA 32 ± 10 and MA/fibroblasts 10 ± 5 cells/mm group. Local inflammation, estimated by histological results was lower and similar in the group MA/MSC and MA with an average of 550 ±50 inflammatory cells/mm in the forniceal area than in the MA/fibroblasts group with an average of 1165 ±50 cells/mm.
Conclusions::
Our results suggest the feasibility of a reliable and reproducible conjunctival symblepharon animal model. The anatomy was restored in all 3 groups but the presence of MSC permitted us to find a conjunctival phenotype close to normal partly due to a decrease in local inflammation.
Keywords: conjunctiva • regeneration • inflammation