Abstract
Glaucoma is the second leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. The major risk factor for most glaucoma patients, and the focus of treatment, is increased intraocular pressure (IOP). Reduced cellularity within the trabecular meshwork (TM) is observed with age and correlates with increased outflow resistance and elevated IOP. Long-term augmentation of aqueous humor outflow facility to control IOP may be an important avenue for the prevention of glaucomatous optic nerve damage. In this chapter, we review the anatomy and cells of the TM, describe the methods to isolate and identify the TM stem cells (TMSCs), and introduce the characteristics of TMSCs and applications of TMSCs for glaucoma research and possible clinical applications. We have found that stem cells from the TM are multipotent with the ability to differentiate to several cell types including phagocytic TM-like cells. After injection into normal mouse anterior chamber, human TMSCs are able to home to mouse TM tissue without obvious inflammatory response. The ability of TMSCs to home to the TM region and differentiate into phagocytic TM cells suggests a potential of stem cell-based therapy for reconstruction of the TM and aqueous outflow facility for glaucoma treatment. TMSC studies may provide pharmacological approaches for TM tissue reconstruction.
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