en Stem Cell Stem Cell Original Article Original Article <p><span style="font-family:Tahoma;"><span style="font-size:12px;"><span style="line-height:150%"><span style="line-height:150%">T<span style="color:black">o investigate the efficacy of </span></span><a name="_Hlk122541851"><span style="line-height:150%">Wharton&#39;s jelly mesenchymal stem cells</span></a><span style="line-height:150%"><span style="color:black"> (WJSCs) and their conditioned medium</span></span><span style="line-height:150%"><span style="color:black"> (CM) for corneal nerve regeneration in rats with diabetic keratopathy.</span></span><b> </b><span style="line-height:150%"><span style="color:black">Streptozotocin (STZ)-induced male diabetic (DM) rats (250&ndash;300 g) were divided to four groups (n=7/group): Control, DM, DM with WJSCs (DM+WJ), and DM with CM treatment (DM+CM). </span></span><span style="line-height:150%">DM+WJ and DM+CM group received WJSCs or CM, respectively, topically by eye drops.</span><span style="line-height:150%"><span style="color:black"> Corneal sensibility, corneal epithelial layer integrity, histology, expression of GAP-43 and TUBB3 on mRNA level and their immunohistochemical expression were examined after two weeks of treatment</span></span><span style="line-height:150%"><span style="color:black">.</span></span><b> </b><span style="line-height:150%">There were changes in corneal sensibility and corneal integrity </span><span style="line-height:150%">between normal control and diabetic groups with/without WJSC or CM injection. Total central corneal thickness was significantly higher in DM+CM (249.81 &plusmn; 43.85 &mu;m) than in control (174.72 &plusmn; 44.12 &mu;m, p=0.004) and DM groups (190.15 &plusmn; 9.63 &mu;m, p=0.03). GAP-43 mRNA expression levels of DM+WJ and DM+CM groups were higher compared with DM and control groups. TUBB3 mRNA level was increased after CM (p=0.047), but not after WJSCs treatment (p=1.00). GAP-43 and TUBB3 immunohistochemical expression of nerve fibers along the epithelial layer significantly increased in DM+WJ and DM+CM compared with DM group.<b> </b><span style="color:black">Our findings showed that WJSCs and their CM improved corneal nerve regeneration in rats with diabetic keratopathy.</span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:10.5pt"><span style="line-height:150%"><span style="layout-grid-mode:char"><span style="text-autospace:ideograph-other"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><b><span style="line-height:150%"></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></p> <span style="font-size:10.5pt"><span style="line-height:150%"><span style="layout-grid-mode:char"><span style="text-autospace:ideograph-other"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><span style="line-height:150%"></span></span></span></span></span></span><br> &nbsp; Stem cells, Wharton's jelly, conditioned medium, diabetic rats, GAP-43, TUBB3 180 196 http://ijmcmed.org/browse.php?a_code=A-10-4885-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Pitra Ariesta Shinta Dewi pitaariesta@yahoo.com 100319475328460032591 100319475328460032591 Yes Doctoral Programme Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia. Ratna Sitompul Sitompul ratna_sitompul@yahoo.com 100319475328460032592 100319475328460032592 No Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia. Jeanne Adiwinata Pawitan jeanneadiwip@gmail.com 100319475328460032593 100319475328460032593 No Department of Histology, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia. Aroem Naroeni aroem.naroeni@gmail.com 100319475328460032594 100319475328460032594 No Stem Cell Medical Technology Integrated Service Unit, Dr. Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital, Faculty of Medicine Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia. Radiana Dewayani Antarianto dr.radiana.antarianto@gmail.com 100319475328460032595 100319475328460032595 No Department of Histology, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia.