Increased Muller Cell De-Differentiation After Grafting of Retinal Stem Cell in the Sub-Retinal Space of Royal College of Surgeons Rats

In several vertebrate classes, the Muller glia are capable of de-differentiating, proliferating, and acquiring a progenitor-like state in response to acute retinal injury or in response to exogenous growth factors. Our previous study has shown that Muller cells can be activated and de-differentiated into retinal progenitors during Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) rats' degeneration, although the limited proliferation cannot maintain retinal function. We now report that rat retinal stem cells (rSCs) transplanted into RCS rats slowed the progression of retinal morphological degeneration and prevented the functional disruption. Further, we found that retinal progenitor cells labeled with Chx10 were increased significantly after rSCs transplantation, and most of them are mainly from activated Muller cells. rSCs transplantation also enhances neurogenic potential by producing more recoverin-positive photoreceptors, which was proved coming from Muller glia-derived cells. These results provide evidence that stem cell-based therapy may offer a novel therapeutic approach for the treatment of retinal degeneration, and that Muller glia in mammalian retina can be activated and de-differentiated by rSC transplantation and may have therapeutic effects.