Scientists Regrow Retinal Cells in The Lab Using Nanotechnology
To tackle a major cause of blindness in developed countries, researchers have employed nanotechnology to help regenerate retinal cells.
Macular degeneration is a type of vision loss that has major social, motor, and psychological consequences. It affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide and its prevalence continues to increase.
Macular degeneration is the result of damage to retinal pigment cells. Because our bodies cannot multiply or replace retinal pigment cells once they begin to die, scientists have been searching for alternative ways to replace retinal pigment cells and retinal pigment cell membranes.
Barbara Piersionek, a biochemist at Anglia Ruskin University, explains, “Previously, scientists cultured cells on a flat surface, which is not biologically appropriate.
‘Using this new technique, cell lines have been shown to grow in the 3D environment provided by the scaffold.’
Biola Egbowon and colleagues, biomedical scientists at Nottingham Trent University, created this 3D scaffold with polymer nanofibers and coated it with steroids to reduce inflammation. Using a technique called electrospinning, in which molten polymer is passed through a high-voltage field to create nanometer-wide fibers, the team was able to keep the scaffolds thin enough.
The polyacrylonitrile polymer used has mechanical strength, and the jeffamine polymer attracts water, so the synthetic scaffold essentially acts as a membrane.
The Jeffamine polymer’s ability to attract water makes it easier for cells to bind to the scaffold and also promotes cell growth.
However, when the effect is too strong, cell death has occurred in previous studies. The new formulation developed by the team was able to increase the growth and lifespan of experimental retinal cells, allowing them to survive for at least 150 days.
Says Dr. Pierscionek, “This study demonstrates for the first time that nanofiber scaffolds treated with anti-inflammatory substances such as fluocinolone acetonide enhance the growth, differentiation, and functionality of retinal pigment epithelial cells.”
Previous attempts have been made to create similar scaffolds using collagen and cellulose, but Dr. Egborn and colleagues believe that these synthetic scaffolds are more compatible with our immune system and can be easily improved. This new study demonstrates that this method can maintain the necessary monolayer of healthy retinal cells and provides a biomarker that indicates that they are functioning more naturally than when grown in other media.
However, the extent to which this method is effective in treating human patients with macular degeneration remains to be seen.
While it may indicate the potential of such cellularized scaffolds in regenerative medicine, it does not solve the problem of biocompatibility with human tissue.”
Other studies in this area have already investigated whether cells cultured in the laboratory can be returned to other retinal cell types to form functioning tissue units. Another tactic is to activate cells already present in human eye tissue to regenerate retinal cells in other animals.
The next step for the research team is to determine the orientation of the cells. This is important to ensure that the cells can maintain a good blood supply and should be done before considering testing within a living system.
Source: Scientists Regrow Retinal Cells in The Lab Using Nanotechnology
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