Kohji Nishida

Sutureless transplantation of carrier-free cell sheets composed of autologous oral mucosal epithelial cells may be used to reconstruct corneal surfaces and can restore vision in patients with bilateral severe disorders of the ocular surface.

Cell sheet engineering technology allows us to create intact, transplantable corneal epithelial cell sheets that retain stem cells from limbal stem cells expanded ex vivo. Our research indicates highly promising clinical capabilities for our bioengineered corneal epithelial sheet.

We investigated the circadian change of choroidal thickness using high-penetration optical coherence tomography in healthy volunteers. The significant diurnal change was found and the choroid was thicker at night and thinner in daytime. Fluctuations in the choroidal thickness may be related to SBP.

Purpose.: Two optical coherence tomography (OCT) modalities can visualize the choroid: high-penetration OCT (HP-OCT) using a long wavelength, and enhanced depth imaging technique using Heidelberg OCT (EDI-OCT). The purpose of this study was to compare and investigate the agreement among the retinal/choroidal thickness parameters. Methods.: Twenty-four eyes of 12 healthy volunteers were examined simultaneously using the prototype swept-source HP-OCT and EDI-OCT. Six independent examiners measured

Many types of organ-specific stem cells have been recently shown to exhibit a side population (SP) phenotype based on their ability to efflux Hoechst 33342 dye. Because stem cells from corneal epithelium reside in the basal layer of the limbal epithelium, the purpose of this study was to examine whether the limbal epithelium contains SP cells. The ATP-binding cassette transporter Bcrp1/ABCG2 is reported to contribute to the SP phenotype in cells from several diverse sources. Here we show data fr

The choroid is diffusely thickened in CSC likely because of the choroidal vascular dilatation. The nasal macula undergoes the greatest alterations in choroidal thickness compared with the other areas.

Tissue engineering of the cornea represents a paradigm shift in medical treatment to overcome the present disadvantages of corneal transplantation, primarily immune rejection and the shortage of donor corneas. Transplantation of cultivated corneal epithelial cells expanded ex vivo from corneal epithelial stem cells has been developed and has already entered the clinical realm. However, there remain many hurdles to be overcome. The author and colleagues are developing a method to transplant culti

We examined the feasibility of using gelatin hydrogels as carrier sheets for the transplantation of cultivated corneal endothelial cells. The mechanical properties, transparency, and permeability of gelatin hydrogel sheets were compared with those of atelocollagen sheets. Immunohistochemistry (ZO-1, Na+/K+-ATPase, and N-cadherin), hematoxylin and eosin staining, and scanning electron microscopy were performed to assess the integrity of corneal endothelial cells that were cultured on gelatin hydr

The expression of TGF-beta 1, TGF-beta 2 and TGF-beta 3 precursors mRNA transcripts in in vivo human corneal cells were studied. Complementary DNA (cDNA) was generated from poly A+RNA extracted from in vivo human corneal epithelial cells, stromal keratocytes and endothelial cells. With the cDNAs as template, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was carried out using specific primers of TGF-beta 1, TGF-beta 2 and TGF-beta 3 precursors, synthesized by choosing specific nucleotide sequences in the laten