Silicone oil is widely used in intraocular filling of fundus disease after vitrectomy, which improves retinal reattachment rate andpostoperative visual function of patients. With the era of minimally invasive vitreous surgery coming, the utilization rate of silicone oil filling is decreasing, however, it still plays an indispensable role in the surgical treatment of complex fundus diseases. In the process of using silicone oil, the indications should be strictly selected, and the potential risks should be fully considered and possibly avoided. The study of vitreous substitutes with certain physiological functions is currently a research hotspot in the field of fundus diseases.
Diabetic macular edema is the leading cause of central vision loss and even blindness in diabetic retinopathy. Compared to FFA, OCT can obtain the high-resolution 3D image quickly, easily to reflect the details of the tissue and realize the quantitative measurement. As a novel technology, OCT angiography (OCTA) can display microvascular structure from different layers of retina and choroid, having its advantage of quantifying the vessel density and the lesion area. By detecting fundus morphology, quantifying and quantitating the retinal vessels and vessel density, the combination of OCT and OCTA could play a guiding role in diagnosis, classification, treatment and prognosis of diabetic macular edema.
[Abstract]Objective To study the differentially expressed genes (DEG) during the differentiation of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC) and human embryonic stem cells (hESC) into pericytes and endothelial cells, and to identify key molecules and signaling pathways that may regulate this differentiation process. Methods hiPSC and hESC were selected and expanded using mTeSR medium. A "two-step method" was used to induce the differentiation of hiPSC and hESC into pericytes and endothelial cells. Pericytes were identified using immunofluorescence staining, while endothelial cells were isolated and identified using flow cytometry. Total RNA samples were extracted on days 0, 4, 7, and 10 of differentiation and consistently significant DEGs were screened. Gene annotation (GO) functional enrichment analysis and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) signal pathway enrichment analysis were performed on the screened DEGs. Results Both hiPSCs and hESCs successfully differentiated into pericytes and endothelial cells under induction conditions. Transcriptome sequencing results showed that with the extension of differentiation time, the DEGs in hiPSCs and hESCs were significantly upregulated or downregulated, following a generally consistent trend. During the differentiation process, marker genes for pericytes and endothelial cells were significantly upregulated. A total of 491 persistent DEGs were detected in both hiPSC and hESC, with 164 unique to hiPSCs and 335 to hESCs, while 8 DEGs were co-expressed in both cell lines. Among these, SLC30A3, LCK, TNFRSF8, PRDM14, and GLB1L3 showed sustained downregulation, whereas CLEC18C, CLEC18B, and F2RL2 exhibited sustained upregulation. GO enrichment analysis revealed that DEGs with sustained upregulation were primarily enriched in terms related to neurogenesis, differentiation, and developmental proteins, while DEGs with sustained downregulation were enriched in terms related to membrane structure and phospholipid metabolic processes. KEGG pathway analysis showed that upregulated genes were primarily enriched in cancer-related pathways, pluripotency regulatory pathways, the Wnt signaling pathway, and the Hippo signaling pathway, whereas downregulated genes were predominantly enriched in metabolism-related pathways. Conclusions During the differentiation of hiPSC and hESC into pericytes and endothelial cells, 8 DEGs exhibit sustained specific expression changes. These changes may promote pericyte and endothelial cell differentiation by activating the Wnt and Hippo pathways, inhibiting metabolic pathways, releasing the maintenance of stem cell pluripotency, affecting the cell cycle, and inhibiting cell proliferation.