1. Limbal stem cells carried by a four-dimensional -printed chitosan-based scaffold for corneal epithelium injury in diabetic rabbits
- Author
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Mengyuan Wang, Kaibin Liu, Xiaomin Wang, Zhen Shang, Yiming Liu, Nailong Pan, Xueqing Sun, and Wenhua Xu
- Subjects
cornea ,diabetes ,stem cells ,tissue-engineering scaffold ,mesenchymal stem cells ,regeneration ,Physiology ,QP1-981 - Abstract
Methods: Herein, we obtained and characterized deltaN p63- and adenosine triphosphate-binding cassette subfamily G member 2-expressing limbal stem cells (LSCs). Chitosan and carboxymethyl chitosan (CTH) were cross-linked to be an in situ thermosensitive hydrogel (ACH), which was printed through four-dimensional (4D) printing to obtain a porous carrier with uniform pore diameter (4D-CTH). Rabbits were injected with alloxan to induce diabetes mellitus (DM). Following this, the LSC-carrying hydrogel was spread on the surface of the cornea of the diabetic rabbits to cure corneal epithelium injury.Results: Compared with the control group (LSCs only), rapid wound healing was observed in rabbits treated with LSC-carrying 4D-CTH. Furthermore, the test group also showed better corneal nerve repair ability. The results indicated the potential of LSC-carrying 4D-CTH in curing corneal epithelium injury.Conclusion: 4D-CTH holds potential as a useful tool for studying regenerative processes occurring during the treatment of various diabetic corneal epithelium pathologies with the use of stem cell-based technologies.
- Published
- 2024
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