AIM: To investigate the effect of cultured limbal stem cells on proliferating of vascular endothelial cells and validate the theory of limbal stem cells.

METHODS: The limbal stem cells and epithelium cells of bulbar conjunctiva were cultured and determined by immunohistochemistry staining with AE-5. The supernatant was collected and added into the cultured human umbilical vein endothelium cells(ECV-304). The negative control was set up. After 24h, MTT was done to detect endothelium cell proliferation. The statistical analysis was done by analysis of Variance.

RESULTS: Negative stain of AE-5 can be seen in limbal stem cells and positive stain can be seen in conjunctiva cells. The ratio of MTT added by limbal stem cell supernatant, conjunctiva epithelium cell and negative control were 2.097±0.079, 1.981±0.034 and 1.990±0.044, respectively. There were significant difference among the three groups(F=9.169, P=0.000). The proliferate activity of vascular endothelial cells added by supernatant of limbal stem cells was higher than the other two groups(P=0.005 and P=0.007, respectively).

CONCLUSION:The supernatant of limbal stem cells can improve the proliferation of vascular endothelium cell. This may be the unique characteristics of limbal stem cells. This study provides more evidences for the theory of limbal stem cells by determining the functional methods.