Transplantation of Photoreceptors for Restoration of Sight
Abstract
Shear forces inflicted by explosion or head impact may result in traumatic retinopathy due to damage of the photoreceptors, leading to irreversible loss of sight. Retinal degeneration also leads to blindness due to gradual loss of photoreceptors. Currently there is no therapy for such conditions, and the loss of sight is permanent. One potential strategy to restore visual function in such patients is replacement of the lost photoreceptors. Several studies demonstrated the technical feasibility and safety of the retinal transplants in animals and in human patients, but functional outcomes were highly variable. There was no clear evidence whether functional improvements were due to actual wiring of the transplanted photoreceptors to the host inner retinal neurons or just neurotrophic effects from the transplanted cells. Moreover, the critical parameters conditioning the success or failure of the graft in these studies have not been clearly identified, which hindered the further development of this approach. We will explore a possibility of restoring sight to patients blinded by the loss of photoreceptors using transplantation of the photoreceptor sheets from the donor tissue. This approach is based on our recent discovery of a very robust rewiring of the deafferented bipolar cells to photoreceptors migrating into the scotoma in animal models of the photoreceptor damage and in human patients after retinal laser therapy. Using ArF excimer laser ablation under direct visualization by optical coherence tomography, we developed a method for extraction of the photoreceptors sheet from the donor retina. We also developed a hydraulic instrument for subretinal insertion of such cellular monolayer.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- May 02, 2017
- Source ID
- FA95501710237
Entities
People
- Daniel Palanker
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- Stanford University
- United States Air Force