SSEA-1 marks regionally restricted immature subpopulations of embryonic retinal progenitor cells that are regulated by the Wnt signaling pathway

摘要

Identificationandexpansionofretinalprogenitorcellsarecriticalissuesfrombothscientificandclinicalaspects.Here,weidentifiedSSEA-1(CD15)asanovelsurfaceantigenthatcanbeusedtodefineimmatureretinalprogenitorcells.SSEA-1-expressingretinalcellswerefoundintheperipheralregionoftheearlyembryonicmouseretina,andthentheirnumberdramaticallydisappearedalongwithretinaldevelopment.FACSanalysisshowedthatthecellsstronglypositiveforSSEA-1co-expressedKi67proliferationantigeninallthedevelopmentalstagesexamined.TheSSEA-1-expressingcellsformedlargercoloniesthanthenon-expressingonesinretinalre-aggregationcultures.Moreover,lateonsetofrhodopsinexpressionwasobservedinSSEA-1-positiveprogenitorcells,supportingtheideathatthesecellshaveanintrinsicallyimmaturecharacter.DifferentialexpressionofWntsignal-relatedgenesbetweenSSEA-1-positiveand-negativesubpopulationsofretinacellswasrevealed,andtheexpressionofconstitutivelyactiveformsofWntsignalingmoleculesresultedinagreaternumberofSSEA-1-positivecells.Inlightofallofthedatatakentogether,weproposeSSEA-1tobeasurfacemarkertodefinearegionallyrestrictedimmaturesubsetofprogenitorcellsofmouseneuralretina,withSSEA-1expressionbythempositivelyregulatedbyWntsignals./p/div