Journal of Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology
Open Access

In vitro retinal neuron differentiation by a two-step approach from peripheral blood mononuclear cell derived monocytes

2^nd International Conference on Eye and Vision

September 26-28, 2016 Orlando, USA

Alaknanda Mishra

National Institute of Immunology, India

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Clin Exp Ophthalmol

Abstract :

The retina is one of the most complex tissues with high metabolic activity. Gradual loss of photoreceptors or other retina related cells is the leading cause of retinal degeneration leading to severe visual impairment. The adult retina lacks stem cells and the cells lost are never regenerated. Thus, it is desirable to have an in vitro system of reprogramming pluripotent cells into retinal cells that may be further utilized for repopulating the retina with the required cells to subside the level of degeneration. Peripheral blood is an easy and accessible source of adult stem cells. Subsequent studies show that PBMCs have been successfully used to generate multitude of cell lineages. The ethical concerns, mitogenic risks and the difficult isolation procedure involved in ESC, iPSC and BMC respectively make them unsuitable for their use in regenerative medicine. In the present study, PBMC derived monocytic cells are induced with plasticity and reprogrammed into retinal neuron like cells. The cells are primed by treating with a cocktail of growth factors in a low serum environment. These primed cells acquire properties of stem cells like proliferation. Further incubation with a re-differentiation cocktail that includes an array of growth factors like EGF, b-FGF, B27 supplement, SCF, IGF, taurine and retinoic acid re-differentiates them into retinal neuron like cells exhibiting morphological, phenotypic and functional resemblance to retinal cells suggesting a lineage shift of these cells.

Biography :

Email: alaknanda16@nii.ac.in