Stem Cells May Help Cure Blindness

Stem cells are simply amazing. They have the unique ability to transform into several different forms that can help grow new tissues or even organs.

A new study from the University College of London found that stem cells are able to do something even more incredible. They're able to rejuvenate retinal cells that could potentially treat blindness.

According to the study, researchers found that transplanted stem cells integrated with the existing retinal cells and formed nerve connections help send visual formation to the brain.

Study researchers took embryo cells from mice and had them cultured in a lab dish where they grew into immature photoreceptors. Around 200,000 of the cells were then injected into the mice retina. Three weeks later, the blind mice retina began to show signs of normal vision.

"Over recent years scientists have become pretty good at working with stem cells and coaxing them to develop into different types of adult cells and tissues. But until recently the complex structure of the retina has proved difficult to reproduce in the lab. This is probably because the type of cell culture we were using was not able to recreate the developmental process that would happen in a normal embryo," said Professor Robin Ali, UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and Moorfields Eye Hospital, lead author of the study, via a press release.

Researchers hope that with further studies, they can soon begin to use this technique, developed originally in Japan, in clinical trials with human cells.

More information regarding the study can be found in the journal Nature Biotechnology.  

The leading cause of blindness is known as loss of photoreceptors in the retina, which often leads to age-related macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa and diabetes-related blindness. According to the National Eye Institute, about 40 to 45 percent of all Americans diagnosed with diabetes are at some stage of diabetic retinopathy.