Featured Articles - July 26, 2021

Resident interstitial lung fibroblasts and their role in alveolar stem cell niche development, homeostasis, injury, and regeneration
Mereena George Ushakumary, et al., STEM CELLS Translational Medicine

This concise review summarizes the existing literature on alveolar fibroblasts and compares and contrasts findings in murine development and fibrosis resolution and human fibrotic lung disease. This article summarizes the fibroblast stages during lung development, regeneration, and repair, with a focus on their role in supporting the alveolar stem cell niche and their potential to function as stromal progenitor cells. The murine findings were extended and incorporated into the context of human disease, and the article also reports on the fibroblast activation stages and how they contribute to bronchopulmonary dysplasia, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Transplanted pluripotent stem cell-derived photoreceptor precursors elicit conventional and unusual light responses in mice with advanced retinal degeneration
Darin Zerti, et al., STEM CELLS

Replacement of the lost photoreceptors by transplantation offers promising prospects for the reversal of end-stage retinal degeneration. Published studies to date have focused on cell engraftment and cytoplasmic material exchange from donor to host photoreceptors. In the present study, the authors have advanced the field by assessing the full range of light responses that develop following transplantation of pluripotent stem cell-derived cone photoreceptors in a mouse model of advanced photoreceptor dystrophy. The authors' data show that, despite a relatively low engraftment yield, cone precursors engraft, resulting in conventional light responses in ganglion cells even at advanced degeneration stages.