Blind Mice Able To See Light After Stem Cell Transplants - Leading To Hopes For Human Trial

Mice which lost their sight were able to perceive light after having stem cell transplants, giving hope that one day humans could have their sight restored.

Scientists plan to carry out clinical trials in humans with worsening vision, following the “exciting” research on mice which had lost their sight through retinal degeneration

While scientists warned that reinstating sight in people was some way off, they have proposed to move on to human trials once further testing has been done with animal. The mice in the study were transplanted with stem cells which had been grown into small patches of light-sensitive retina - the thin layer of tissue lining the back of the eye.

The study is supposed to be the 1st time photoreceptors - the light-sensitive neurons in the eye - have been positively transplanted to host cells and sent visual signals to the host retina as well as the brain.

Report author Michiko Mandai said: “Transplanting retinal tissue instead of simply using photoreceptor cells allowed the development of more mature, organized morphology, which likely led to better responses to light.”

The Japanese study, published in Stem Cell Reports, presented mice who had implantations were able to make relations with light, on condition that that a considerable amount of the transplant was situated in the right place.

The writers said this presented the new cells in the retina not only answered to light but also that the info moved to the brain and could be used to study.

Lecturer Robert MacLaren, Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Oxford, says  the research gave hope for people with poor sight.

 “This study is exciting because it shows that a complicated part of the central nervous system, such as the retina, could potentially be regenerated from something as simple as a skin cell.

“Furthermore, the engineered retinal tissue appears to be able to make connections to the brain after transplantation.

“Clinical treatments are still a long way off but, for patients with retinal degeneration, this provides some hope for the future. ”by MIT engineering scholars & later altered for military use.