Photoreceptor Transplant May Help Restore Vision

The transplantation of photoreceptor cells the light sensitive nerve tissue at the back of the eye - could suffer the basis for a new treatment to improve vision in people from degenerative diseases of the eye to restore form, has proposed a new study.
Scientists from the Medical Research Council (MRC) funded the first time showed that the transplantation of photoreceptors can be sensitive in the eyes of mice with low vision light you restore vision.
Researchers at the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology of mice with cells from healthy young people directly in the retina of adult mice with no functional rod photoreceptors are injected.
The loss of photoreceptors is the leading cause of blindness in many human eye diseases such as macular degeneration related to age, retinitis pigmentosa and blindness associated with diabetes.
There are two types of photoreceptors of the eye - rods and cones. The transplanted cells were immature (or parents) of the rod photoreceptors. The stems are particularly important to see in the dark because they are very sensitive to even small amounts of light.
After four to six weeks, the transplanted cells seemed to be almost as good as the normal rod photoreceptor cell and had the connections necessary to transmit visual information to the brain.
The researchers tested the vision of the treated mice in a maze in dim light. Mice that were able to stem costs of using a visual cue to quickly find a hidden platform in the maze, while untreated mice had the hidden platform, by chance, after a thorough exploration of the maze."We have for the first time that transplanted photoreceptor cells can be successfully integrated into existing circuits of the retina and actually improve vision demonstrated. We hope that we will soon be able to replicate this success with the photoreceptors from embryonic stem cells, and finally discharged, the development from human studies, "said Professor Robin Ali, UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, who led the study.
"While there are many steps before this approach will be available for patients, the therapy of thousands of people who have lost their eyesight may result from degenerative diseases of the eye. The results also pave the way procedures for repair of the central nervous system, since it is the incredible brain's ability to re-connect demonstrate a transplanted neurons. "
Dr. Rachael Pearson at UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and lead author, said they are now looking for ways to improve the efficiency of transplantation and cones, the efficiency of transplantation into the retina to degenerate improve greatly increase.
"You must do both in order to develop effective therapies for patients."
"This is a groundbreaking study that will guide future research in a wide range of areas, including vision research, neuroscience and regenerative medicine," said Dr Rob Buckle, director of regenerative medicine in the MRC.
"This is a clear demonstration of the functional recovery of eye damage by cell transplantation is an important stimulus for the development of stem cell therapies for many serious conditions that affect millions of eyes to be treated all over the world," said Dr. Loop.
When the retina is almost but not fully formed - Researchers have previously, that it is possible, transplanted retinal photoreceptors in adult mice, as long as the donor mouse cells shown in a certain stage of development.
In this study we have optimized the procedure for the transplantation of stem cells, increasing the number of cells introduced into recipient mice and were able to restore vision.