Authors : Mona H. Mohammed Ali, Wael Amin Nasr El-Din and Mohammed A. Mohammed
Volume : 39
Issue : 2
Year : 2016
Page No : 1-18
Background: Stem cell–based therapeutic approaches are of potential interest in progressive neurodegenerative diseases such as glaucoma. Although stem cell transplantation has been shown to reduce neuronal loss and replace outer retinal neurons in some retinal disease models, stem cell–based therapies have not been explored for the treatment of glaucoma. Bone marrow has been proposed as a potential source of stem cells for regenerative medicine. Aim of the work: To investigate the role of bone marrow derived mononuclear stem cells (BM-MNCs) on retinal alterations caused by glaucoma in adult male albino rats. Materials and methods: A total of forty adult male albino rats were used through the study. They were allocated randomly into three equal groups (10 each) in addition to 10 rats used for obtaining BM-MNCs. The groups were: Group I (Control group), Group II (Glaucoma induced group): where ocular hypertension was induced unilaterally in the left eye of rats by 0.030.05- ml of sodium hyaluronate (23 mg/ml) injected into the anterior chamber once weekly for three weeks and the rats were sacrificed six weeks after the last injection. Group III (Glaucoma-induced treated with BM-MNCs group):where ocular hypertension was induced unilaterally in the left eye of rats as in group II, then intraocular administration of BM-MNCs cells (1.6 X 106)into the anterior chamber was performed three weeks after the last injection of sodium hyaluronate and the rats were sacrificed after elapse of another three weeks. Nine weeks after the start of the experiment, all rats from the different groups were sacrificed and the left eyes were enucleated and processed for examination. Results: Left eyes of glaucoma induced rats presented with many histological alterations. The ganglion cells appeared degenerated accompanied with degenerated interrupted nerve layer and interrupted inner limiting membrane. The inner plexiform layer appeared degenerated with marked thinning and infiltration with deeply dense cells. The inner nuclear layer appeared thin with decrease of cell density accompanied with vacuolations, abnormal shaped cells and ghost like cells. The outer nuclear layer showed degenerated rod and cone cells with loss of discrimination between them, some cells appeared karyolytic while others appeared karyohexitic. Marked degeneration and distortion of the photoreceptor layer with wide spaces in-between its outer portion and loss of striation were also evident. Moreover, intense positive immunoreaction to both Caspase-3 andHSP70 was observed in the ganglion cell layer. Intraocular administration of BM-MNCs to glaucoma-induced rats resulted in reversal of all the above retinal alterations reaching almost to the control appearance. Conclusion: This study indicates that topical administration of BM-MNCs treatment may be an effective adjunct therapy for retinal alterations in glaucoma. These encouraging results merit further investigation of BM-MNCs treatment in controlled clinical trials with glaucoma and other forms of neurodegenerative disorders.