Corneal limbal stem cells: morphological and pathogenetic aspects

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26641/1997-9665.2023.4.84-89

Keywords:

eye, cornea, stem cells, corneal limbal insufficiency.

Abstract

The creation of the concept of corneal limbal stem cells (SCs) significantly advanced ophthalmological researchers in understanding the processes of proliferation, migration and regeneration of the corneal epithelium, which made a direct contribution to improving the treatment of a wide range of diseases of the eye surface. However, from the point of view of the application of limbal SCs in clinical practice, many questions remain unresolved, the most important of which are the long-term survival of limbal allografts and their rejection, as well as the improvement of immunosuppressive treatment regimens. Limbal SCs are functionally defined as cells that are capable of self-renewal and organization of a permanent population of identical daughter cells with the same unlimited potential for proliferation and formation of any body tissue. Since the discovery that epithelial SCs are located in the cornea, the treatment of ophthalmic diseases has reached a high level: new promising diagnostic and therapeutic methods have appeared. The potential clinical benefit of SCs lies in the ability to replace damaged cells with healthy ones that are generated from them or arise as a result of their paracrine effect and are able to maintain the tissue microenvironment or recruit endogenous factors from circulating progenitor cells to repair damaged eye cells. Stem cells are widely used in clinical practice: their effectiveness has been proven in the treatment of a wide range of diseases. The problem of finding new effective pathogenetically based methods, the use of which will allow to reduce the number of complications, shorten the time of providing medical care and achieve positive results, remains relevant.

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Published

2024-01-15

How to Cite

Tverdokhlib , I., Servetnyk , M., Dudash , A., & Fik , V. (2024). Corneal limbal stem cells: morphological and pathogenetic aspects. Морфологія / Morphologia / Morfologìâ, 17(4), 84–89. https://doi.org/10.26641/1997-9665.2023.4.84-89

Issue

Vol. 17 No. 4 (2023)

Section

Статті

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