Abstract
Purpose: To investigate donor cell survival following corneal limbal stem cell grafting, which is based on the corneal stem cell model.
Methods: We describe the use of the amelogenin gene probe with the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to detect surviving donor cells and report preliminary studies using Y-specific DNA probes.
Results and conclusions: DNA polymorphisms have a detection limit of 10%. The SRY ‘Y-spedfic’ probe has a theoretical detection limit of 1 cell in 10 000. The techniques were applied to investigate survival of male donor cells in an aniridic female patient 2½ years following limbal stem cell grafts. We speculate that low levels of donor-derived cells may still be present. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the two approaches, which may have future clinical and experimental application.
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Henderson, T., McCall, S., Taylor, G. et al. Do transplanted corneal limbal stem cells survive in vivo long term? Possible techniques to detect donor cell survival by polymerase chain reaction with the amelogenin gene and Y-specific probes. Eye 11, 779–785 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/eye.1997.204
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/eye.1997.204