Adipose-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells Migrate and Rescue RPE in the Setting of Oxidative Stress.

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

• Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
• Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
• Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
• Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
• Emerging · Emerging topic under active research

Abstract (original English)

Oxidative stress leads to the degeneration of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) and photoreceptor cells. We evaluated the potential of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ASCs) as a therapeutic tool by studying the migration capacity of ASCs in vitro and their protective effect against RPE cell death under oxidative stress in vitro and in vivo . ASCs exhibited enhanced migration when exposed to conditioned medium of oxidative stressed RPE cells obtained by hydrogen peroxide. Migration-related axis SDF-1/CXCR4 was studied, and upregulation of SDF-1 in stressed RPE and of CXCR4 in ASCs was detected. Moreover, ASCs' conditioned medium prevented H 2 O 2 -induced cell death of RPE cells. Early passage ASCs had high expression level of HGF, low VEGF levels, and unmodulated IL-1 β levels, compared to late passage ASCs. Thus, early passage ASCs show the potential to migrate towards damaged RPE cells and protect them in a paracrine manner from cell death induced by oxidative stress. In vivo , mice received systemic injection of NaIO 3 , and 72 h later, ASCs were transplanted in the subretinal space. Seven days after ASC transplantation, the eyes were enucleated fixed and frozen for immunohistochemical analysis. Under such conditions, ASC-treated mice showed preservation of nuclear layers in the outer nuclear layer and stronger staining of RPE and photoreceptor layer, compared to PBS-

Evidence level

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

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