Human Adipose-Derived Stem Cells for the Treatment of Chemically Burned Rat Cornea: Preliminary Results

Adipose-derived stem cells (ADSC) are multipotent, safe, non-immunogenic and can differentiate into functional keratocytes in situ. The topical use of ADSC derived from human processed lipoaspirate was investigated for treating injured rat cornea.A total of 19 rats were used. Six animals initially underwent corneal lesion experiments with 0.5 N NaOH (right eye) and 0.2 N (left). The 0.2 NaOH protocol was then used in 13 rats. All 26 eyes of 13 rats eyes received topical azythromycin bid for 3 d and divided into five treatment groups (n = 5 eyes/group), which included: control, stem cells, serum, stem + serum and adipose (raw human lipoaspirate). The four treatment groups received topical treatment three times daily for 3 d. Stem cells were isolated and harvested from human lipoaspirate. Topical eye drops were prepared daily with 1 × 10(5) cells/treatment. Fluorescein positive defect area and light microscope assessment was performed at 20, 28, 45, 50 and 74 h. Animals were sacrificed at 74 h for histological evaluation. Data were statistically analyzed for differences amongst groups.The stem cell-treated eyes had significantly smaller epithelial defects at each time point compared to control- and adipose-treated eyes (p < 0.05). This group showed slightly better epithelium healing than the serum and combined group, yet not significantly different. Histology showed that stem cell-treated corneas had complete re-epithelization, with less inflammatory cells and limited fibroblast activation structure compared with the control eyes.Our preliminary results show that topical treatment with ADSC seems to improve corneal wound healing.