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LONDON (Reuters) - British and American scientists have restored vision in blind mice by transplanting light-sensitive cells into their eyes in a breakthrough that could lead to new treatments of human eye diseases.
The mice suffered from eye damage called photoreceptor loss which occurs in macular degeneration, the leading cause of sight loss in the elderly, and other eye disorders.
But instead of using stem cells, which could form into any cell type, the scientists transplanted cells that had reached a later stage of development toward becoming photoreceptor cells.
"We have shown for the first time that it is possible to transplant photoreceptors," said Dr Robert MacLaren, a scientist and eye surgeon at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London.
"These cells are lost in some of the more common causes of blindness" he added in an interview.
The mice suffered from eye damage called photoreceptor loss which occurs in macular degeneration, the leading cause of sight loss in the elderly, and other eye disorders.
But instead of using stem cells, which could form into any cell type, the scientists transplanted cells that had reached a later stage of development toward becoming photoreceptor cells.
"We have shown for the first time that it is possible to transplant photoreceptors," said Dr Robert MacLaren, a scientist and eye surgeon at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London.
"These cells are lost in some of the more common causes of blindness" he added in an interview.