The number of individuals who lose their sight due to end-stage retinal degeneration is steadily rising and currently, it cannot be reversed. However, groundbreaking research using stem cell technology offers a light at the end of the tunnel.
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The researchers [from the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Japan] transplanted stem cell-derived retinal tissues into animals with end-stage retinal degeneration. They found that this tissue could be coerced into forming structured outer nuclear layers that included mature photoreceptors.
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Going beyond expectations, the procedure managed to restore sight in almost half of the mice with end-stage retinal degeneration. Such significant success was due to the researchers’ choice of cells. Previous work has used retinal cells rather than the differential retinal tissue used in this study.
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There is still much work to be done, as [RIKEN scientist Masayo Takahashi] is well aware: “It is still a developing-stage therapy, and one cannot expect to restore practical vision at the moment. We will start from the stage of seeing a light or large figure, but hope to restore more substantial vision in the future.”
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion, and analysis. Read full, original post:ย Stem cell research offers new hope of restoring sight
