purpose : our aim was to isolate mesenchymal stem cells (mscs) from mouse umbilical cord and culture them with vitreous body to investigate their capacity to differentiate into lens fiber cells, crystallins are expressed. methods : wharton's jelly is the appropriate source of mscs. after isolation, the cells were cultured and alkaline phosphatase detection kit was used for staining undiffe...

recently, the use of stem cells has expanded into numerous areas including cell therapy. in this study, we investigated the differentiation capacity of human wharton’s jelly stem cells (hwjscs) into lens fiber cells. morphological changes and expressions of four crystallin genes (αa, αb, βb1 and βb3) were studied. the bovine vitreous body has been shown to induce expression of crystallin genes ...

The eye lens consists of a layer of epithelial cells that overlay a series of differentiating fiber cells that upon maturation lose their mitochondria, nuclei and other organelles. Lens transparency relies on the metabolic function of mitochondria contained in the lens epithelial cells and in the immature fiber cells and the programmed degradation of mitochondria and other organelles occurring ...

The mature eye lens contains a surface layer of epithelial cells called the lens epithelium that requires a functional mitochondrial population to maintain the homeostasis and transparency of the entire lens. The lens epithelium overlies a core of terminally differentiated fiber cells that must degrade their mitochondria to achieve lens transparency. These distinct mitochondrial populations mak...

In the developing vertebrate lens, epithelial cells differentiate into fiber cells, which are elongated and flat in shape and form a multilayered lens fiber core. In this study, we identified the zebrafish volvox (vov) mutant, which shows defects in lens fiber differentiation. In the vov mutant, lens epithelial cells fail to proliferate properly. Furthermore, differentiating lens fiber cells do...

PURPOSE The immunoglobulin superfamily member Cadm1 is a single-pass, type 1 membrane protein that mediates calcium-independent, cell-cell adhesion. Cadm1 has been implicated in tumor formation and synaptogenesis. A recent analysis of mouse lens cell membranes identified Cadm1 as a major constituent of the fiber cell membrane proteome. Here the authors examined the expression and function of Ca...

PURPOSE The ocular lens contains only two cell types: epithelial cells and fiber cells. The epithelial cells lining the anterior hemisphere have the capacity to continuously proliferate and differentiate into lens fiber cells that make up the large proportion of the lens mass. To understand the transcriptional changes that take place during the differentiation process, high-throughput RNA-Seq o...

Recent genetic studies show that the Eph/ephrin bidirectional signaling pathway is associated with both congenital and age-related cataracts in mice and humans. We have investigated the molecular mechanisms of cataractogenesis and the roles of ephrin-A5 and EphA2 in the lens. Ephrin-A5 knockout ⁻/⁻ mice often display anterior polar cataracts while EphA2⁻/⁻ lenses show very mild cortical or nucl...