UCL makes photoreceptor breakthrough

Transplanting light-sensitive photoreceptors into the eyes of visually impaired mice has been shown to restore their vision.

The findings, by scientists from UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, suggested that transplanting photoreceptors could form the basis of a new treatment to restore sight in people with degenerative eye diseases.

Funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC), the scientists injected cells from young healthy mice directly into the retinas of adult mice that lacked functional rod-photoreceptors. The cells transplanted were progenitor rod-photoreceptor cells.

After four to six weeks, the transplanted cells were reported to be functioning almost as well as normal rod-photoreceptor cells and had formed the connections needed to transmit visual information to the brain.