Repairing Retinal Tissue in Mice With Stem Cells
An example of ongoing experiments and improvements in methodology for stem cell treatments:
[Researchers] report they have developed human induced-pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) capable of repairing damaged retinal vascular tissue in mice. The stem cells, derived from human umbilical cord-blood and coaxed into an embryonic-like state, were grown without the conventional use of viruses."We began with stem cells taken from cord-blood, which have fewer acquired mutations and little, if any, epigenetic memory, which cells accumulate as time goes on." The scientists converted these cells to a status last experienced when they were part of six-day-old embryos. Instead of using viruses to deliver a gene package to the cells to turn on processes that convert the cells back to stem cell states, [the] team used plasmids, rings of DNA that replicate briefly inside cells and then degrade.
Next, the scientists identified high-quality, multipotent, vascular stem cells generated from these iPSC that can make a type of blood vessel-rich tissue necessary for repairing retinal and other human material. They identified these cells by looking for cell surface proteins called CD31 and CD146. [The] team injected the newly derived iPSCs into mice with damaged retinas, the light-sensitive part of the eyeball. Injections were given in the eye, the sinus cavity near the eye or into a tail vein. When the scientists took images of the mice retinas, they found that the iPSCs, regardless of injection location, engrafted and repaired blood vessel structures in the retina.
Link: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-01/jhm-lvs012314.php