Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the most common cause of vision loss and blindness in people over the age of 65 living in developed countries. People affected by the disease gradually lose their central vision as they age. There is no treatment for more than 70% of AMD cases, leaving millions of people with gradually worsening eyesight.

However, new research from scientists in Canada may lead to a treatment for people with the disease. A research team at the Maissonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, led by Dr. Gilbert Bernier, is researching ways to use stem cells for macular degeneration treatment. The procedure they are working on uses human stem cells to form the cone-shaped photoreceptor cells that make vision possible.

Dr Bernier explains the procedure, saying: “We have developed a very efficient method which allows us to obtain 80 per cent of the human embryonic stem cells differentiating to human cones with the receptors.”

Stem cells are particularly useful for regenerating human tissue. They are very young cells that form the building blocks of other cells — including the cells that make up the human eye.

Part of the challenge when using stem cells for macular degeneration is that they need to form tissue, not just a collection of individual cells. A challenge that researchers believe they have met, Dr Bernier explains:

“In the system we developed, the cells grow as a tissue, not as single cells. The human macula is exclusively composed of cone-shaped receptor cells. These are the cells which are dying in macular degeneration. That’s why you lose your central vision. What we have here is human tissue, growing in the dish, that is very reminiscent of a human macula.”

The next challenge facing scientists is connecting a stem-cell derived macular with the nerves that enable vision. Dr Bernier is very optimistic about that occurring soon because experimental have already shown that a synaptic connection can be formed with new tissue using stem cells.

Source: Could stem cells be the cure for macular degeneration?

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