StemCell Therapy

Friday, April 20 15:18:27

Scientists funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) have made what could turn out to be the fist step towards curing blindness.

Limerick researchers have shown for the first time that transplanting light-sensitive photoreceptors into the eyes of visually impaired mice can restore their vision.

The research, published in Nature, suggests that transplanting photoreceptors -light-sensitive nerve cells that line the back of the eye - could form the basis of a new treatment to restore sight in people with degenerative eye diseases.

Scientists from University College Limerick Institute of Ophthalmology injected cells from young healthy mice directly into the retinas of adult mice that lacked functional rod-photoreceptors. Loss of photoreceptors is the cause of blindness in many human eye diseases including age-related macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa and diabetes-related blindness.

There are two types of photoreceptor in the eye - rods and cones. The cells transplanted were immature (or progenitor) rod-photoreceptor cells. Rod cells are especially important for seeing in the dark as they are extremely sensitive to even low levels of light.

After four to six weeks, the transplanted cells appeared to be functioning almost as well as normal rod-photoreceptor cells and had formed the connections needed to transmit visual information to the brain.

The researchers also tested the vision of the treated mice in a dimly lit maze. Those mice with newly transplanted rod cells were able to use a visual cue to quickly find a hidden platform in the maze whereas untreated mice were able to find the hidden platform only by chance after extensive exploration of the maze.

Professor Robin Ali, associate director of research at the Irish patient led research charity Fighting Blindness led the research at UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and Moorfields Eye Hospital.

He said, "We've shown for the first time that transplanted photoreceptor cells can integrate successfully with the existing retinal circuitry and truly improve vision. We're hopeful that we will soon be able to replicate this success with photoreceptors derived from embryonic stem cells and eventually to develop human trials. Although there are many more steps before this approach will be available to patients, it could lead to treatments for thousands of people who have lost their sight through degenerative eye disorders. The findings also pave the way for techniques to repair the central nervous system as they demonstrate the brain's amazing ability to connect with newly transplanted neurons."

See the original post here:
Irish research blindness breakthrough

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