Electro-chemotactic stimuli for cell replacement therapy in neurosensory retina

• Published in: Neural regeneration research Vol. 15; no. 3; pp. 450 - 452
• Main Author: Vazquez, Maribel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: India Wolters Kluwer India Pvt. Ltd 01.03.2020; Medknow Publications and Media Pvt. Ltd; Medknow Publications & Media Pvt. Ltd; Wolters Kluwer - Medknow; Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications
• Subjects: Age; Care and treatment; Cell adhesion & migration; Chemotaxis; Diabetes; Diabetic retinopathy; Electric fields; Electric stimulation; Growth factors; Health aspects; Ligands; Macular degeneration; Medical examination; Motility; Neurons; Patient outcomes; Photoreceptors; Retina; Stem cells; Surgery; Russia
• ISSN: 1673-5374; 1876-7958
• DOI: 10.4103/1673-5374.266056

The Human retina is a layered, neurosensory tissue that lines the eye posterior to transmit signals to the visual cortex via the optic nerve (Thoreson and Dacey, 2019) [Figure 1]A. Retinal dysfunction is a leading cause of irreversible blindness from diseases like age-related macular degeneration, proliferative diabetic retinopathy and primary open angle glaucoma, which disproportionately affect mature and elderly adults [Figure 1]B.{Figure 1} Interfaces of technology and treatment: Vision loss via retinal degeneration is due in large part to the limited regeneration capacity of retinal photoreceptor cells, which absorb and convert light into electrochemical signals for vision via phototransduction (Thoreson and Dacey, 2019) [Figure 1]C. Cell replacement therapies have transformative potential to restore vision by transplanting specialized donor cells to replace degenerated rod and cone photoreceptors. Donor SPC cells in an idealized integration model of age-degenerated retina must: 1) Migrate out of SRS transplantation sites; 2) Navigate into damaged retinal laminae; 3) Achieve functional positioning within host ONL; and 4) Synapse with endogenous secondary neurons (e.g., bipolar, horizontal cells) to restore vision [Figure 1]C. While advancements in stem cell biology have cultivated sophisticated molecular and genetic techniques to derive photoreceptor replacements, low cell viability and unrealized differentiation have diminished success (Bobba et al., 2018). [...]we developed a new strategy to increase, both, numbers of motile SPC and their directionality of movement by applying concurrent ligand and EF fields that better simulate multivariate retinal cues (Thoreson and Dacey, 2019).