Abstract
Purpose :
Recently, it has been reported that some populations of pericytes (PCs) have function as mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). The aim of this study was to investigate therapeutic potential of MSC-like PCs in a murine model of ischemic retinopathy.
Methods :
We isolated MSC-like PCs from subcutaneous adipose of 8 weeks old transgenic mice harboring eGFP by using specific two markers. Oxygen-induced retinopathy (OIR) was induced by exposing C57BL/6J mice to 75% oxygen from postnatal 7 days (P7) to P12 followed by return to room air. MSC-like PCs or PCs were intravitreally injected into the right eyes at P12. The left eyes were kept as a control. Retinal vasculature was examined immunohistochemically using retinal wholemounts labeled with isolectin B4. The area of abnormalities was expressed as the ratio to total retinal area (mean ± SE).
Results :
OIR caused a robust increase of non-perfused area (NPA)(27.1±2.1%) and retinal neovascularization (NV)(27.7±0.9%). Injected MSC-like PCs incorporated into the retina, and some resided along the vasculatures. MSC-like PCs treatment significantly reduced NPA (3.5±0.8%, p<0.01 vs. OIR) and NV (4.2±1.0%, p<0.01 vs. OIR) at P17. In contrast, there were few injected PCs that existed along the retinal vasculatures at P17. However, PCs treatment also resulted in a reduction of NPA (8.6±1.4%, p<0.01 vs. OIR) and NV (13.2±1.9%, p<0.01 vs. OIR).
Conclusions :
Intravitreal injection of MSC-like PCs prevents pathological angiogenesis and accelerates physiological revascularization in OIR. These effects may be caused by release of cytokines from MSC-like PCs. A further work is needed to understand the mechanism for these beneficial effects of MSC-like PCs and differences between MSC-like PCs and PCs.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.