Neurosphere-Free Transdifferentiation of Rat Bone Marrow Stromal Stem Cells Into Retinal Cells and Retinal Pigment Epithelium

Introduction: Neurosphere-free transdifferentiation of bone marrow stem cells into Retinal Pigment Epithelium (RPE) and Retinal Cells (RCs) in vitro could offer an exceptional opportunity to study cell replacement in degenerative eye diseases. Thus, a simple and efficient protocol for retinal cells production from transdifferentiation of rat BMSCs in the neurosphere-free state is reported. Methods: Extracted BMSCs from hooded pigment rats were exposed to a single-step protocol, including neurosphere-free, containing a cocktail medium that induced transdifferentiation into Retinal Pigment Epithelium (RPE) and retinal cells. Results: The results showed morphological differentiation changes in vitro. Also, the expressed retinal pigment epithelium and retinal cell markers, such as retinal orthodenticle homeobox 2 (23.45%), retinal pigment epithelium protein 65 (91.54%), cellular retinaldehydebinding protein (91.21%), vascular endothelial growth factor (94.79%), rhodopsin (57.19%), glial fibrillary acidic protein (28.33%), and neurofilament 200 (24.55%). Conclusion: Overall, these findings showed that a protocol without using basic fibroblast growth factor, epidermal growth factor, and B-27 supplements could generate RPE and retinal cells in