Bone marrow mononuclear cells autotransplant in experimental corneal ulcer in dogs/Transplante autologo de celulas mononucleares da medula ossea em ulcera de cornea experimental em caes

Bone marrow (BM) mononuclear cells (MC) are a great subject in tissual regeneration. The main stem cell source to the eye is the limbus. Theses cells replace injured corneal cells, however, if the limbal stem cells are not functional, a limbal deficiency with concomitant conjunctivalization takes place. This pathological condition can be caused for several reasons, in which alkali burns are the most common. To conduct a research about transplanted BM MC presence, the cells homing and to histopathologically compare the treated and sham group, an experimental corneal ulcer model associated with MC autotransplant was used. Sixteen, male or female, stray dogs suffered experimental corneal ulceration with sodium hydroxide soaked filter discs. After the lesions, animals were submitted to subconjunctival autotransplant of previously marked BM MC. The evaluation was made by immunofluorescence on the sixth day after lesions creation and histopathology was conducted 15 days after the same procedure, when it was possible to observe that the MC grafted in the injured area, the cells did not execute the homing process and, despite the inflammatory decrease, they did not help the corneal epithelial healing process in a short term evaluation. Thus, future studies about MC transplantations in corneal ulcers are indicated. Key words: stem cell, bone marrow, mononuclear fraction, corneal ulcer, sodium hydroxide, dog. As celulas mononucleares (CM) da medula ossea (MO) despertam grande interesse nas pesquisas sobre regeneracao tecidual. O limbo e a fonte de celulas-tronco (CT) para repor ceratocitos lesados e uma disfuncao destas e denominada deficiencia limbica. Essa condicao e desenvolvida por diversas afeccoes, sendo que a queimadura por base e a mais comum. A fim de confirmar a presenca das CM da MO transplantadas, a ocorrencia de quimiotaxia destas e comparar histopatologicamente os grupos tratado e controle, utilizou-se um modelo experimental de ulcera de cornea associado ao autotransplante de CM. Para tanto, 16 caes machos ou femeas, sem raca definida, foram submetidos a ulcera experimental de cornea com papel filtro embebido em hidroxido de sodio (NaOH). Apos as lesoes, os animais foram submetidos a transplante subconjuntival de CM da MO, previamente marcadas com nanocristais. A avaliacao pos-operatoria foi realizada por imunofluorescencia no sexto dia apos o transplante e por histopatologia passados 15 dias do procedimento, quando foi possivel notar que as CM fixaram