Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0086543 (cataract)
 29,165 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The purpose of our study was to establish a system for culturing normal human conjunctival epithelial (NHCE) cells under serum-free culture conditions without compromising their ability to differentiate into a mucous epithelium. To this end, small pieces of normal conjunctiva were biopsied from patients undergoing cataract surgery. Obtained NHCE cells were cultured in bronchial epithelial growth medium (BEGM) under serum free culture conditions and passage 3 cells were air-lifted. Cultured NHCE cells displayed typical epithelial morphology. Expression of cytokeratin 19 and conjunctival epithelial specific carbohydrate residue were detected. Air-lifted NHCE cells demonstrated an increase in stratification and differentiation into goblet cells up to 3weeks under air-liquid interface (ALI) culture condition. NHCE cells expressed MUC1, MUC4, MUC16, and MUC5AC mRNA, and MUC5AC production and secretion increased in a time dependent manner after culture under ALI conditions. Exposure of cells to proinflammatory cytokines (TNF-alpha or IFN-gamma) resulted in upregulation of MUC1, MUC4, MUC16, and MUC5AC gene expression. In conclusion, differentiated NHCE cells showed features of a multi-layered conjunctival epithelium, including goblet cells, and retained functional characteristics similar to those seen in vivo. This cell culture system can better facilitate investigation of conjunctival epithelial cell biology and goblet cell differentiation.
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PMID:Multi-layered culture of primary human conjunctival epithelial cells producing MUC5AC. 1756 80

The anterior surface of the eye is covered by several physically contiguous but histologically distinguishable epithelia overlying the cornea, limbus, bulbar conjunctiva, fornix conjunctiva, and palpebral conjunctiva. The self-renewing nature of the conjunctival epithelia makes their long-term survival ultimately dependent on small populations of stem cells. Hence, the objective of this study was to investigate the expression of the stem cell genes Sox2, OCT4, NANOG, Rex1, NES, and ABCG2 in cultured human conjunctival epithelium from different conjunctival zones, namely, the bulbar, palpebral and fornix zones. Three samples were taken from patients with primary pterygium and cataract (age range 56-66 years) who presented to our eye clinic at the UKM Medical Centre. The eye was examined with slit lamp to ensure there was no underlying ocular surface diseases and glaucoma. Conjunctival tissue was taken from patients who underwent a standard cataract or pterygium operation as a primary procedure. Tissues were digested, cultured, and propagated until an adequate number of cells was obtained. Total RNA was extracted and subjected to expression analysis of conjunctival epithelium genes (KRT4, KRT13, KRT19) and stem cell genes (Sox2, OCT4, NANOG, Rex1, NES, ABCG2) by reverse transcriptase-PCR and 2% agarose gel electrophoresis. The expression of Sox2, OCT4, and NANOG genes were detected in the fornical cells, while bulbar cells only expressed Sox2 and palpebral cells only expressed OCT4. Based on these results, the human forniceal region expresses a higher number of stem cell genes than the palpebral and bulbar conjunctiva.
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PMID:Human forniceal region is the stem cell-rich zone of the conjunctival epithelium. 2174 21