Eye Cells Believed to Be Retinal Stem Cells Are Mis... (g capability of stem cells. Also the cul...)

Eye Cells Believed to Be Retinal Stem Cells Are Misidentified

Date:3/30/2009

g capability of stem cells. Also, the cultured sphere cells showed activation of genes characteristic of adult eye cells.

"The first clue that these cells were not stem cells was that they were pigmented," Dyer said. "Neural stem cells, in general, and retinal progenitor cells, in particular, are not pigmented. Nevertheless, the previous finding was met with a tremendous amount of enthusiasm because of the promise of introducing these cells into the eye to regenerate photoreceptors lost to blindness."

In their studies, Dyer and his colleagues analyzed the sphere-forming cells in detail to determine whether they were really retinal stem cells. Painstaking microscopy studies of each cell in the spheres revealed all were pigmented and had features of ciliary epithelial cells. The researchers also compared the structure of the sphere-forming cells with those of confirmed stem cells and other immature cells in the developing retina called progenitor cells. That comparison revealed fundamental differences between the sphere-forming cells and established stem or progenitor cells.

The researchers also found that simply culturing the sphere-forming cells in the same growth medium as is used for stem cells caused them to activate genes characteristic of stem cells, yet remain adult ciliary epithelial cells.

Dyer said that a particularly promising alternative is the possibility of taking samples of adult cells - such as fibroblasts that form connective tissue - from a patient with retinal degeneration and exposing them to genetic cues that induce them to revert to stem cells. Those induced pluripotent stem cells could then be manipulated to develop into light-sensing photoreceptor cells that could then be transplanted into the patient's eyes to restore vision.

"This approach would solve many problems of developing cell-based therapy for blindness," Dyer said. "First, these cells are immortal,
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