Stem Cells Treating Blindness

The eye contains several types of stem cells that constantly replace specialised cell that become worn out or damaged.

Stem cells treating blindness.

Injecting treatment in to a blind eye carries low risks as eyes are encapsulated and wayward cells likely would not travel to other parts of the body. But researchers think it could work for other kinds of vision loss as well. In 2006 nature published a paper describing how stem cells could be used to restore sight in blind mice. Mar 29 2017 the biology of treating blindness with stem cells dr.

Researchers hope the new procedure will also help in the future to treat dry amd and similar diseases of the retina. They injected stem cells into the rear of the eye. Researchers at karolinska institutet and st erik eye hospital in sweden have discovered a way to refine the production of retinal cells from embryonic stem cells for treating blindness in the. Scientists in sweden have innovated a method of treating blindness using embryonic stem cells to produce retinal cells.

In the study 18 patients with either disorder received transplants of retinal epithelial cells rpe made from stem cells that came from human embryos. Specialised cells in the eye serve specific functions to focus light and turn what is being seen into signals sent to the brain. Blindness caused by disorders such as retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration are considered to be good candidates for stem cell therapies. Holoclar is currently the only clinically approved stem cell treatment for the eye.

Those who might benefit the most from this stem cell treatment are people who suffer from macular degeneration. Gilbert bernier has a plan to cure blindness. His plan involves coaxing stem cells to become sheets of precious cone photoreceptors the eye s light sensitive cells and then transplanting them into blind eyes to restore vision. Italian researchers report that the stem cell procedure resulted in successful corneal transplantation in three fourths of patients with blindness in one or both eyes caused in most patients by.

The team at karolinska institutet and st erik eye hospital reported this. How it works to perform the stem cell transplant researchers initially tested things out in blind mice.