Abstract

JIMENEZ GUERRERO, Diana Estefanía. Retinal tissue transplantation and retinal progenitor cells: A therapeutic promise for patients with retinal disease. Iatreia [online]. 2010, vol.23, n.1, pp.49-57. ISSN 0121-0793.

Worldwide, diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, and retinitis pigmentosa have the highest incidence rate among retinal diseases. Despite the lack of enough trials demonstrating positive functional results on eyesight recovery, the use of stem cells, retinal progenitor cells, and fetal retinal tissue transplantation seem very promising. So far positive results on the functionality of the transplanted cells have not been obtained. However, the safety and reliability of the procedure to transfer retinal tissue have been demonstrated. Transplantation of retinal progenitor cells has not been tried on human beings, but there have been satisfactory results with it in murine models. Trials with retinal progenitor cells have demonstrated activation and expression of photoreceptors in murine models. Some barriers of availability exist for the use of retinal progenitor cells that must be overcome in order to carry out studies to increase the possibility of their integration and differentiation towards photoreceptors.

Keywords : Photoreceptors; Retinal progenitor cells; Retinal transplantation; Stem cells.

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