Stem cell work shows promise

British scientists believe significant progress has been made in treating blindness through stem cell growth.

An animal study by University College London and Moorfields Eye Hospital, published in the journal Nature Biotechnology, was reported to have shown that light-sensing cells in the retina have been grown from scratch and later injected into the eyes of blind mice. The transplanted cells matured and connected to nerves that transmit visual signals to the brain. However, effectiveness was said to be low, with 1,000 cells out of around 200,000 transplanted connecting to nerves.

It is hoped that the procedure can be repeated with human stem cells and the scientists believe it can cure most forms of blindness caused by the degeneration of photoreceptor cells. ‘We now have a route map for doing this with human embryonic stem cells. The challenge is to get the procedure efficient enough for transplants,’ University College London lead researcher Professor Robin Ali told New Scientist.