Stem Cell Therapy
Research | General Research | Stem Cell Therapy
Stem cells are special cells, which can develop into any cell which the body needs, which operate to some degree throughout our lives. Recent studies of adult neural stem cells have suggested that it is possible to replace dead cells to improve degenerative conditions such as Parkinson's disease.
In recent study scientists have cured blindness in mice for the first time by replacing worn out and damaged retinal cells with stem cells. In one of the first trials of this type of therapy on the retina in humans, doctors repaired the vision of patients with AMD (age-related macular degeneration) using cells from the patients' own eyes. This procedure is still under development but scientists hope by growing retinal cells in the laboratory and processing them, injecting them into the eye will become a simple operation in the future.
Researchers are also investigating how stem cells can be used to preserve and nourish a person's existing retinal tissue, and most importantly, preserve vision.