Objective To investigate the possibility of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells（hMSCs）differentiates into epithe1ium-like cells, and to discuss the possibility of constructing tissue engineering conjunctiva using these differentiated cells .
Methods The human MSCs and conjunctival epithelium（CjE） were cultured and identified. The hMSCs were cocultured with hCjEs in transwell. The differentiated cells were identified according to their morphological characterizes.The expression of cytokeratin13 (CK13) protein and mRNAs were determined by using immunocytochemistry and reverse transcriptasepolymerase chain reaction（RT- PCR）.The tissue engineering conjunctiva was constructed with differentiated cells and acellularized conjunctiva matrix, the mRNAs and the protein expressions of CKl3 and MUC5AC in the tissue engineering conjunctiva were detected by RT-PCR and western blot analysis.
Results Enough hMSCs and hCjEs could be obtained with high purity. After induced, the shape of differentiated cells became wide and irregularity round accompanied by losing its spindle-shape gradually. The results of immunocytochemistry showed that there were positive expression for CK13 in differentiated cells, and the expressions of CK13 mRNA could be detected by RT-PCR，just like epithelial cells. Both the mRNA and protein expression of CK13 and MUC5AC could be detected in the tissue engineering conjunctiva by RT-PCR and western blot analysis.
Conclusion Conjunctival epithe1ium-like cells could be differenced from hMSCs under given situation. The tissue engineering conjunctiva constructed in this study possessed the similar biological characteristics as the normal conjunctiva.