Examination of factors involved in transdifferentiation from mouse epidermal cells to corneal epithelial-like cells

自体表皮细胞转分化后的角膜上皮细胞可用于角膜再生。我们利用krt12基因表达GFP的K12Cre/ZEG小鼠表皮细胞，测定了小鼠表皮细胞在剥去上皮的角膜/巩膜移植物上向角膜上皮样细胞的分化潜能。免疫荧光法检测培养组织。我们的研究结果表明，小鼠表皮细胞可以特异性地在角膜周围区域转分化为角膜上皮样细胞，其中细胞外基质或基质来源的可溶性因子可能在诱导角膜上皮细胞K12表达或细胞命运决定中起关键作用。

The corneal epithelial cells that transdifferentiated from auto-epidermal cells should be useful for the corneal regeneration. By using the epidermal cells from K12Cre/ZEG mouse, in which the GFP expression is occurred by krt12 gene expression, we determined the differentiation potential of the mouse epidermal cells into corneal epithelial-like cells on the epithelial-denuded cornea/sclera graft. The cultured tissue was examined by immunofluorescence. Our results suggested that the mouse epidermal cells could transdifferentiated into the corneal epithelial-like cells specifically on the peripheral region of cornea, where the extracellular matrix or stromal-derived soluble factors might have a key role in the induction of K12 expression or cell fate determination of the corneal epithelia.