Development of retinal treatment with dental pulp cells

2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24659756
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Ophthalmology
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: NAKAZAWA Toru 東北大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 教授 (30361075)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): TANAKA Yuji 東北大学, 大学院医学系研究科, 助教 (40625513)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): SASAKI Ryo 東京女子医科大学, 大学院医学研究科, 講師 (60524709)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2014-03-31
• Keywords: 細胞治療 / 歯髄 / 網膜障害 / 神経再生

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The transplantation of dental pulp-derived cells to the eye was explored for the possibility of the novel neuroprotection and regenerative treatments to the critical retinal diseases that results in vision loss. Firstly, the isolated dental pulp-derived cells were directly injected into normal rat vitreous, and it was confirmed that some of the injected cells adhered to the retina and formed the neuronal process. Furthermore, several cell manipulation methods were examined to enrich stem cell population and up-regulate neuron-related molecular expression. Specifically, (1) gene expression of nerve and stem cell related molecule were activates by sphere-forming floating culture, (2) sphere-forming cells can be enriched by cell sorting of CD105-positive dental pulp-derived cells, (3) the expression of an axonal regeneration related molecule was promoted by applying hypoxic culture to the sphere-forming culture.

Free Research Field

眼科学