Gunasekaran S

Department of Integrative Biology

School of Bio Sciences and Technology

Vellore Campus

Jayadev N

School of Architecture

Subramani M

Murugeswari P

Dhamodaran K

Chevour P

Kumar R.S

Shetty R

Begum N

Das D.

Fulltext

Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) is a private university located in&nbsp;Tamil Nadu, India. Founded in 1984, as Vellore Engineering College, the institution offers 20 undergraduate, 34 postgraduate, four integrated and four research programs. It has campuses in Vellore, Amravati, Bhopal and Chennai.

VIT is one of the top ranked private universities in India according to NIRF, THE and QS Rankings.&nbsp;Govt. of India has recognized&nbsp;VIT, Vellore as an&nbsp;Institution of Eminence. This has allowed VIT to take independent quality initiatives and move up in world ranking.

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VIT University

Investigative Opthalmology & Visual Science

Oxidative stress is an important cause for several retinal aging diseases. Cell therapy using a decellularized human amniotic membrane (dHAM) as a tissue scaffold for retinal pigment epithelial cells has a potential therapeutic role under such pathological conditions. This is attributed by the anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, low-immunogenicity aspects of dHAM, apart from harboring a drug reservoir potential. The underlying mechanisms for maintaining the physiological properties of transplanted cells and their survival in a diseased milieu using dHAM has remained unexplored/unanswered. Hence, we investigated the potential role of dHAM in preserving the cellular functions of retinal pigment epithelium in an oxidative stress environment. Adult human retinal pigment epithelial (ARPE-19) cells were cultured on dHAM or tissue culture dishes under hyperoxia. Gene expression, immunofluorescence staining, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were performed to assess the levels of reactive oxygen species, proliferation, apoptosis, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, phagocytosis, and secretion of vascular endothelial factors. These results indicate reduced epithelial-mesenchymal transition, generation of reactive oxygen species (p ≤ 0.0001), and apoptosis (p ≤ 0.05) in cells cultured on dHAM, compared to those on tissue culture dishes under oxidative stress conditions. Concomitantly, the secretion of the vascular endothelial growth factor was significantly reduced (p ≤ 0.01) on dHAM. Phagocytic activity was significantly higher (p ≤ 0.001) in cells cultured on dHAM and were comparable to those cells cultured on tissue culture dishes. SEM images showed a clustered growth pattern on dHAM compared to an elongated morphology when cultured on tissue culture dishes under oxidative stress conditions. These findings demonstrate the utility of dHAM as a scaffold for growing retinal epithelial cells and to maintain their physiological properties in an oxidative stress condition with a potential to develop regenerative medicine strategies to treat degenerative eye diseases. © 2018 American Chemical Society.

ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering

Protective Role of Decellularized Human Amniotic Membrane from Oxidative Stress-Induced Damage on Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells

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Short Pulse of Clinical Concentration of Bevacizumab Modulates Human Retinal Pigment Epithelial Functionality

Journal	Investigative Opthalmology & Visual Science
Publisher	Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO)
ISSN	1552-5783
Open Access	Yes