ORLANDO, Fla., May 14 U.S. scientists have shown that bone marrow stem cells can switch roles and produce keratocan, a protein involved in the growth of the cornea.University of Cincinnati researchers Winston Whei-Yang Kao and Hongshan Liu induced corneal abnormalities that mimicked genetic eye mutations and then injected bone marrow stem cells into the corneas of mice to see if they altered the mutations.After one week, the abnormal corneas of animal models injected with bone marrow stem cells began to change shape and heal, according to the findings presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla."We found that bone marrow stem cells can contribute to the formation of connective tissues," Kao said in a statement. "If we can change the function of non-corneal bone marrow stem cells by introducing them into human corneas, we can possibly repair the loss of visual sharpness caused by mutations." Copyright 2007 by UPI
