Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Stem Cells. Dec 26, 2023; 15(12): 1077-1092
Published online Dec 26, 2023. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v15.i12.1077
ADSC-Exos outperform BMSC-Exos in alleviating hydrostatic pressure-induced injury to retinal ganglion cells by upregulating nerve growth factors
Zhi-Kun Zheng, Lei Kong, Min Dai, Yi-Dan Chen, Yan-Hua Chen
Zhi-Kun Zheng, Lei Kong, Min Dai, Yi-Dan Chen, Yan-Hua Chen, Department of Ophthalmology, Affiliated Hospital of Yunnan University/Yunnan Eye Hospital, Kunming 650021, Yunnan Province, China
Co-first authors: Zhi-Kun Zheng and Lei Kong.
Author contributions: Zheng ZK and Kong L designed the study; Zheng ZK, Kong L, and Dai M acquired and analyzed data; Dai M performed the experiments; Chen YD interpreted the data; Zheng ZK, Kong L, and Chen YH wrote the manuscript; and all authors approved the final version of the article.
Supported by Yunnan Provincial High-level Talent Cultivation Support Program for Young Top-notch Talents, No. YNWR-QNBJ-2020-237; Yunnan Natural Science Foundation, No. 202301AT070190; and Kunming Medical University Joint Special Fund, No. 202301AY070001-222.
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Laboratory Animal Welfare Ethics Committee Yunnan University (Approval No. YNU20230463).
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
ARRIVE guidelines statement: The authors have read the ARRIVE guidelines, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the ARRIVE guidelines.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Min Dai, PhD, Doctor, Department of Ophthalmology, Affiliated Hospital of Yunnan University/Yunnan Eye Hospital, No. 176 Qingnian Road, Wuhua District, Kunming 650021, Yunnan Province, China. dm9024@163.com
Received: September 6, 2023
Peer-review started: September 6, 2023
First decision: October 23, 2023
Revised: November 17, 2023
Accepted: December 4, 2023
Article in press: December 4, 2023
Published online: December 26, 2023
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have a protective effect against damage to the cornea, lacrimal gland, retina and photoreceptor cells, and this protective effect can be mediated through exosomes (exos) released by MSCs.

Research motivation

Experimental pressure conditions were selected to be relevant to intraocular pressures seen in clinical settings, with levels of 100 mmHg analogous to acute glaucoma, 30 mmHg for chronic glaucoma and 15 mmHg for the so-called ‘normal’ intraocular pressure. Bone marrow-derived stem cell (BMSC)-Exos have an ameliorative effect on glaucoma. However, the effect of adipose-derived stem cell (ADSC)-Exos which is the ideal source of exos on optic neural degeneration has not been studied yet.

Research objectives

This study investigated the ameliorating effect of exos derived from different MSCs on retinal ganglion cell (RGC) injury induced by hydrostatic pressure.

Research methods

The RGC injury model was constructed by RGC damage under different hydrostatic pressures (40, 80, 120 mmHg). Then RGCs were cultured with ADSC-Exos and BMSC-Exos. Cell Counting Kit-8, transmission electron microscopy, flow cytometry, immunofluorescence, real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction, and western blotting were performed to detect the ameliorating effect of exos on pressure-induced RGC injury.

Research results

ADSC-Exos and BMSC-Exos were successfully separated. RGCs were in the shape of irregular ellipsoids, and the addition of ADSC-Exos and BMSC-Exos significantly restored the morphology of RGCs. In addition, the proliferative activity of RGCs was increased and cell apoptosis was inhibited. Increased levels of lactate dehydrogenase and apoptosis-related proteins, and increased concentrations of anti-apoptotic proteins and neurotrophic substances.

Research conclusions

The results indicate that ADSC-Exos and BMSC-Exos can improve hydrostatic pressure-induced RGC damage by inhibiting apoptosis and increasing neurotrophic factor secretion.

Research perspectives

The results of this study will be verified by the experiment in vivo in the future.