Science: It will be possible to see again with lab-made retinas

An important step has been taken for science. Experts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, reported that this advance is about to undergo testing in humans. Some cells – made in the laboratory – were discovered that were sensitive to light and that joined together after being separated.

see again

The research work has worked as a culture of these cells outside the human body and could be useful in the future so that dead retinal cells can be exchanged for a lab creation.

The step is important for the eye transplantation of patients with different visual problems. Because they are part of the same job, the cells form other cells so that they eventually become a retina.

She is basically a tissue that is at the back of the eye, whose great responsibility is to interpret the signals that come directly from the brain. In this way, the vision is created. When the tissue is torn and no longer connects with the brain, the person promptly loses his or her eyesight.

The researcher and ophthalmologist of the research, David Gamm, informed that this is the last stage of the study and pointed out that all reached a goal: “We wanted to use the cells from these organoids as replacement parts for the same types of cells that were lost in the course of retinal diseases," explained the doctor.

Research mounts retina in the laboratory

The cells that were created in 3D by the researchers in the laboratory in 2014 cause an effect very similar to that of the natural retina carried by the human body. The discovery made in 2022 showed that the same laboratory cell could respond to different stimuli and get in touch with others to establish bonds.

The function of creation will depend on the connection that the cell will establish within its own body, formed by a chemical connection known as a “synapse”, causing the “artificial” to join with the vision cells in the body.

The team's question was whether, in fact, these connections were established. And that's how they applied the rabies virus to the experiment and saw that the retinal cells were establishing the connections.

"It's all ultimately leading to human clinical trials, which will be the next step," Gamm pointed out.

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