Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSC) Are Used to Prevent Vision Loss in Rodent Model of Retinal Degeneration

Retinal neurodegenerative diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD), are the leading cause of irreversible vision loss in older Americans. AMD involves degeneration and destruction of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), a thin layer of tissue that supports and nourishes the light-detecting photoreceptor cells in the neural retina. Replacing damaged RPE cells using normal, functioning RPE cells is not yet possible. However, the recent discovery that stem cells can be created from adult, rather than embryonic cells, provides a new approach to generate RPE cells for replacing damaged tissue.
Source: News from NEI - Category: Opthalmology Tags: News and Events Source Type: news