In vitro differentiation of retinal ganglion cells from stem cells obtained throughout different stages of development.

SPELZINI, GONZALO; MAHECHA CASTAÑEDA; JUAN GUILLERMO; SANCHEZ, VIVIANA; OLMOS CARREÑO, CINDY; DI NAPOLI, JENNIFER; CARRI, NÉSTOR GABRIEL; MEDORI, MARA; SADER LIMA, LUANA; SCICOLONE, GABRIEL

Buenos Aires

Congreso; 2nd FALAN Congress 2016; 2016

Federation of Latinoamerican and Caribean Neuroscience Society

In vitro differentiation of retinal ganglion cells from stem cells obtained throughout different stages of development.Olmos Carreño C1; Spelzini G1; Medori M1; Di Napoli J1; Mahecha Castañeda JG1; Sader L1; Carri N2; Sanchez V1; Scicolone G1. 1 Inst de Biol Celular y Neurociencias ?Prof E De Robertis? (UBA-CONICET), Facultad de Medicina, UBA.2 Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Celular, La Plata, Argentina..The chicken embryo retina presents stem cells in the ciliary margin (CM). Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) are the first differentiated neurons during early development. It was shown that some RGCs can be obtained in vivo during later periods by stimulating with fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) and insulin. However, it is not known whether RGCs can be obtained in late development in vitro lacking the in vivo microenvironment. We investigated: if RGCs can be obtained in vitro from CM stem cells at different stages of development, and if these RGCs possess positional information which would allow them to establish topographic ordered connections.We cultured dissociated stem cells obtained from nasal and temporal CM, favoring neurospheres formation. After expansion, neurospheres were cultured on polilisine-laminin substrate with different concentrations of FGF2 and insulin to evaluate if these conditions are sufficient to induce RGCs differentiation at different stages of development.Stem cells differentiated to RGCs at different stages of development, including those when RGCs are not produced. These RGCs express molecules which maintain positional information and participate in axon guidance. These data show that: developmental restriction of stem cells progenies can be modulated by FGF2 and insulin; stem cells express positional information and RGCs could responde to axon guidance cues. This supports the possibility to use stem cells to replace depleted RGCs. CONICET, UBA