What is it about?

Results from many laboratories suggest that stem cell niche is comprised by extracellular matrix components such as glycosaminoglycans (GAG's), as well as by different cell types and cell-produced molecules that establish a micro environment, is essential to maintain stem cells`proliferative and differentiation abilities. In this chapter, those elements that seem contribute to establish the niche in which corneal stem cells reside, are described. It is also attempted to link such characteristics with the predicted properties of this cell population.

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Why is it important?

I think that this chapter is important because we tried to integrate all described information regarding corneal stem cell populations in different mammalian species and to show that many different factors lead to compose an specialized environment which is crucial for stem cells maintenance.

Perspectives

Many people thinks that stem cell niche is the site of residence of the stem cell populations. In part this is true, However, I think that stem cell niche is a very complex environment that regulates and is involved in maintenance and programming of stem cell populations. Hence, I have made the analogy between the evolution of niche concept in ecology and stem cell niche. At the beginning, niche was thought only as the role of an species in an ecosystem, but today niche is understood as a n-dimensional space that regulates, nurtures and protects a specific species (animal, plant, etc). In the same sense, stem cell niche can be understood as the result of the interaction between many different cell types, growth factors, hormones, cytokines and extracellular matrix components, that is necessary for maintenance of the proliferative potential of those cells that participate in tissue regeneration and renewal, that plays also a role in defining the developmental pathways followed by the progeny derived from those cells that occupy such an specific place.

Dr Federico Castro-Munozledo
Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del IPN

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This page is a summary of: The Mammalian Limbal Stem Cell Niche: A Complex Interaction Between Cells, Growth Factors and Extracellular Matrix, January 2015, Springer Science + Business Media,
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-21702-4_2.
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