Advances in differentiation of human embryonic stem cells into corneal endothelial cells under the mimical microenvironment

The lack of donor corneal endothelium is a serious impediment to the development of corneal endothelial transplantation, whereas the bioengineered cornea provides an approach to this problem. Functional corneal endothelial cells which differentiated from human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) can, to some extent, relieve the lack of donor corneas, especially for corneal endothelia. At the moment, an optimal way of offering bioengineered-corneal endothelium is to cultivate the corneal endothelial cells in vitro. This is a process of inducing human ESCs to differentiate into neural crest stem cells (NCSCs) and then into corneal endothelial cells in a favorable medium with growth factors and extracellular matrix, which are matched microenvironment of endothelial cells in vitro. However, the inducement condition is still pending and remains for further research. This article reviewed the researching development of bioengineered-corneal endothelium from the effect of microenvironment and the induction of human ESCs.

Human; Embryonic stem cells; Neural crest stem cell; Endothelium, corneal; Differentiation