[The Study on Induced Differentiation of Embryonic Stem Cells into Conjunctival Epithelial-Like Cells].

PURPOSE:To investigate the probabilities of murine embryonic stem cells (ESC) differentiating into conjunctival epithelial cells and lay a basis for seeking a new source of seed cells provided in conjunctival tissue engineering.METHODS:In vitro, the ESC were induced by conjunctival epithelial cells in transwell. The morphological changes of the ESC were observed under phase contrast microscope, the specific markers of the induced cells were identified immunocytochemically with Cytokeratin 3/12 (CK3/CK12), Cytokeratin 13 (CK13), MUC4 and MUC5AC.RESULTS:The ESC might be induced by human conjunctival epithelial cells into the conjunctival epithehal-like cells after 72 hours of inducing. These cells had the typical epithelial cells morphology and were positive in cytokeratin 13, MUC4 staining, negativein CK3/CK12, MUC5AC staining.CONCLUSIONS:The murine ESC may be induced into conjunctival epithelial-like cells by conjunctival epithelial cells of human in vitro.