In Vitro Cytotoxicity Screening as a Criterion for the Rational Selection of Tear Substitutes

A large number of artificial tears are currently available in the pharmaceutical market. Selecting the right drug for the patient remains a challenge for both the doctor and the patient. Comparing the cytotoxicity of artificial tears is one of the criteria for the rational selection of a drug that promotes maximum clinical efficacy and a higher safety profile. It is known that cells grown in vitro retain many metabolic features of the parent host tissues and at the same time lack tissue and organ interrelations and regulatory effects of the nervous and endocrine systems and have very limited compensatory capabilities. These features of cell cultures provide an opportunity to investigate the interaction of chemical agents directly with the cell itself, to identify changes in cellular and subcellular structures that can be masked in whole-organism settings. This study presents the results of assessing the cytotoxicity of tear substitutes, which demonstrate that these drugs can have a cytostatic effect in vitro and differ in their cytotoxic potential. In recent years, the problem of drug therapy of patients with dry eye syndrome has been attracting increasing attention of ophthalmologists, so screening the cytotoxicity of a wide range of tear substitutes using cell culture-based test systems can promote the rational selection of these drugs

Derivation and Characterization of EGFP-Labeled Rabbit Limbal Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Their Potential for Research in Regenerative Ophthalmology

The development of cell-based approaches to the treatment of various cornea pathologies, including limbal stem cell deficiency (LSCD), is an area of current interest in regenerative biomedicine. In this context, the shortage of donor material is urgent, and limbal mesenchymal stem cells (L-MSCs) may become a promising cell source for the development of these novel approaches, being established mainly within the rabbit model. In this study, we obtained and characterized rabbit L-MSCs and modified them with lentiviral transduction to express the green fluorescent protein EGFP (L-MSCs-EGFP). L-MSCs and L-MSCs-EGFP express not only stem cell markers specific for mesenchymal stem cells but also ABCG2, ABCB5, ALDH3A1, PAX6, and p63a specific for limbal epithelial stem cells (LESCs), as well as various cytokeratins (3/12, 15, 19). L-MSCs-EGFP have been proven to differentiate into adipogenic, osteogenic, and chondrogenic directions, as well as to transdifferentiate into epithelial cells. The possibility of using L-MSCs-EGFP to study the biocompatibility of various scaffolds developed to treat corneal pathologies was demonstrated. L-MSCs-EGFP may become a useful tool for studying regenerative processes occurring during the treatment of various corneal pathologies, including LSCD, with the use of cell-based technologies