Retinal Lineage Therapeutic Specific Effect of Human Orbital and Abdominal Adipose-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Bryan Krief; Shira Weisthal Algor; Itay Nakdimon; Ayala Elhikis; Moshe Benhamou; Anouk Savir Kadmon; Shay Keren; Oded Ohana; Ilan Feldman; Ran Ben Cnaan; Igal Leibovitch; Anat Loewenstein; Adiel Barak; Aya Barzelay

doi:10.1155/2021/7022247

Retinal Lineage Therapeutic Specific Effect of Human Orbital and Abdominal Adipose-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Stem Cells Int. 2021 Oct 19:2021:7022247. doi: 10.1155/2021/7022247. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Bryan Krief^{1

2}, Shira Weisthal Algor^{1

2}, Itay Nakdimon^{1

2}, Ayala Elhikis^{1

2}, Moshe Benhamou^{1

2}, Anouk Savir Kadmon^{1

2}, Shay Keren^{1

2}, Oded Ohana^{1

2}, Ilan Feldman^{1

2}, Ran Ben Cnaan^{1

2}, Igal Leibovitch^{1

2}, Anat Loewenstein^{1

2}, Adiel Barak^{1

2}, Aya Barzelay^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Ophthalmology, Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel-Aviv 6423906, Israel.
² Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv 6997801, Israel.

Abstract

Retinal degenerative diseases are one of the main causes of complete blindness in aged population. In this study, we compared the therapeutic potential for retinal degeneration of human mesenchymal stem cells derived from abdominal subcutaneous fat (ABASCs) or from orbital fat (OASCs) due to their accessibility and mutual embryonic origin with retinal tissue, respectively. OASCs were found to protect RPE cells from cell death and were demonstrated to increase early RPE precursor markers, while ABASCs showed a raise in retinal precursor marker expression. Subretinal transplantation of OASCs in a mouse model of retinal degeneration led to restoration of the RPE layer while transplantation of ABASCs resulted in a significant restoration of the photoreceptor layer. Taken together, we demonstrated a lineage-specific therapeutic effect for either OASCs or ABASCs in retinal regeneration.