| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2094637 | Stem Cell Research | 2012 | 11 Pages |
The anterior ocular surface comprises the cornea, conjunctiva and a narrow intermediate region called the limbus. It is widely accepted that the corneal epithelium is maintained by stem cells but different hypotheses propose that the stem cells that maintain the mouse corneal epithelium during normal homeostasis are located either in the basal limbal epithelium or throughout the basal corneal epithelium. There are no specific markers to help test these alternatives and new methods are required to distinguish between them. We observed that KRT5LacZ/− transgenic mice produced rare β-galactosidase (β-gal)-positive radial stripes in the corneal epithelium. These stripes are likely to be clonal lineages of cells derived from stem cells, so they provide a lineage marker for actively proliferating stem cells. The distributions of the β-gal-positive radial stripes suggested they extended centripetally from the limbus, supporting the limbal epithelial stem cell (LESC) hypothesis. Stripe frequency declined between 15 and 30 weeks, which predicts a reduction in stem cell function with age. Pax6+/−, KRT5LacZ/− corneas had small patches rather than stripes, which confirms that corneal maintenance is abnormal in Pax6+/− mice.
►KRT5LacZ transgenic mice showed mosaic β-galactosidase staining. ►Radial corneal epithelial stripes are probably clonal lineages from stem cells. ►Stripe distributions suggest lineages are derived from stem cells in the limbus. ►Stripe frequencies suggest stem cell activity declines with age.
