Retina Organoid Transplants Develop Photoreceptors and Improve Visual Function in RCS Rats With RPE Dysfunction.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

To study if human embryonic stem cell-derived photoreceptors could survive and function without the support of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) after transplantation into Royal College of Surgeons rats, a rat model of retinal degeneration caused by RPE dysfunction.

Methods

CSC14 human embryonic stem cells were differentiated into primordial eye structures called retinal organoids. Retinal organoids were analyzed by quantitative PCR and immunofluorescence and compared with human fetal retina. Retinal organoid sheets (30-70 day of differentiation) were transplanted into immunodeficient RCS rats, aged 44 to 56 days. The development of transplant organoids in vivo in relation to the host was examined by optical coherence tomography. Visual function was assessed by optoki

SUBMITTER: Lin B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7509771 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature