The new study findings could provide hope for patients with common eye conditions. (Image credit: abbestock via Getty Images)
Scientists have discovered previously unknown cells in the human eye that could potentially help restore vision lost due to common diseases such as macular degeneration.
The researchers found these cells in the retina, the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye that plays a key role in vision. The cells were identified in donated fetal tissue samples.
The scientists also identified similar cells in laboratory models of the human retina. When they transplanted these models into mice with a common eye disease, it restored their vision.
“This study not only deepens our understanding of retinal biology, but also has enormous potential to improve therapeutic approaches to treating RD [retinal degeneration] diseases,” the researchers wrote in a paper describing the findings, published March 26 in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
The retina captures light and converts it into signals that the brain interprets to determine what we see. Deterioration of the retina is the leading cause of blindness globally. It can be caused by a variety of factors, including aging, diabetes, and physical injury, and degeneration can lead to common eye diseases such as macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa.
Current treatments for these conditions are primarily aimed at slowing the destruction of retinal cells and protecting the remaining healthy cells. However, there are currently no effective retinal repair therapies that can effectively reverse the deterioration.
A potential solution is to use stem cells to replace damaged cells — cells that can develop into any type of cell in the body given the right conditions. However, scientists have not yet found suitable stem cells in the human retina to achieve this goal, the authors of a new study report.
In the new study, the team analyzed the activity of cells in fetal retina samples in the lab. They identified two types of retinal stem cells with promising regenerative properties: human neural retinal stem cells (hNRSCs) and retinal pigment epithelial stem cells (RPE).
This image shows retinal stem cells in stained tissue from human fetuses.
The researchers found that both types of cells located on the outer edge of the retina could clone themselves. However, only hNRSCs had the ability to turn into other types of retinal cells under the right conditions.
In a separate experiment, scientists grew
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