A pre-clinical study appearing today in Nature Scientific Reports presents the results of a stem cell study to treat retinitis pigmentosa, a disease of the eye. 

Sponsored by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and the Astellas Institute for Regenerative Medicine – who provided funding and generated photoreceptor-like cells derived from human stem cells – the study’s researchers at the University of Oxford transplanted the cells into the eyes of blind mice affected with retinitis pigmentosa. The cells then formed a layer that created connections to the optical nerve, restoring partial visual function in treated animals – as evidenced by two visual behavioral tests. There was also a positive link between the number of transplanted cells and visual performance with no obvious adverse effects three weeks post-transplantation. 

As a pre-clinical study, the data do not equate or imply effectiveness in humans.

To read the full Nature Scientific Reports study, click here.