Human cell transplants partly restore sight in some aged mice
In retinal recordings, 54.2% of recorded nerve cells responded to light in transplanted eyes, compared with 2.5% in untreated eyes.
Our read
Interventions- Studied:
- Experiments in rd1 mice with weakened immune systems, three to five months, against untreated eyes
- What changed:
- In transplanted eyes, 54.2% of recorded nerve cells responded to light, against 2.5% in untreated eyes
- The catch:
- Head-tracking analysis included nine transplanted eyes, and retinal recordings succeeded in only four
- Stake:
- An author holds shares in Tower Therapeutics CellX.
- Why it’s aging research:
- It studies organisms or tissues that aged naturally.
Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
In an animal experiment, rd1 mice with weakened immune systems received transplants at 12–15 months of age. They had lost all light-sensing cells in their retinas, the light-detecting layers at the back of the eyes. Researchers injected 500,000 cones—light-sensing cells grown from human embryonic stem cells—under the retina in one eye per mouse. The other eye remained untreated. They tested vision about three months later.
The donor cells survived in large numbers. Remaining mouse nerve cells extended branches toward them and made contacts resembling nerve-cell connections. Recordings from removed retinas three to five months after transplantation showed restored responses across normal daylight intensities, with evidence of retinal signal processing. Some mice also showed partial improvements in visually triggered head tracking.
Why it matters
Cell replacement for diseases such as age-related macular degeneration depends on whether surviving retinal circuits can still work with new light-sensing cells after prolonged degeneration.
Caveats
This was a small animal experiment: head-tracking analysis included nine transplanted eyes, and retinal recordings succeeded in four. The mice modeled inherited retinal degeneration, not age-related macular degeneration, and the findings do not establish restored sight in people.
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