Future blindness cure? Stem cell success in lab

Featured Article Academic Journal Main Category: Eye Health / Blindness Also Included In: Stem Cell Research Article Date: 22 Jul 2013 - 7:00 PDT

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Scientists are one step closer to curing blindness, after they carried out the first successful transplant of light-sensitive photoreceptor cells from a synthetic retina that was grown from embryonic stem cells.

Researchers from University College London (UCL) and Moorfields Eye Hospital in the UK, transplanted the photoreceptor cells in to night-blind mice and found that the cells developed normally.

The cells integrated into the existing retina in the mice and formed the required nerve connections that transmit visual information to the brain.

The study, published in the journal Nature Biotechnology, shows embryonic stem cells could potentially be used to provide an "unlimited supply of healthy photoreceptors for retinal cell transplantations to treat blindness in humans."

Photoreceptors are light-sensitive nerve cells found in the retina of the eye. There are two types of photoreceptors - rods and cones.

The cones provide the eye's color sensitivity. The rods are not sensitive to color, but are more sensitive to light than the cones and are particularly important for providing the ability to see in the dark.

According to researchers, the loss of photoreceptors in the eye is a leading cause of sight loss in degenerative eye diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa, diabetes-related blindness and age-related macular degeneration.

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Future blindness cure? Stem cell success in lab