Introduction: Age related change is one of the most common causes of vision loss around the world, affecting between 30 to 50 million people worldwide. As suggestive of the name, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is most prevalent in adults over the age of 60. Of the cases of AMD, about 90 percent are dry AMD for which no effective treatment exists [1]. The retina is the nerve tissue lining the inside of the eye which begins the conversion of light into vision. The macula, located in the center posterior to the retina, is a small area approximately 5.5 mm in diameter which is responsible for central vision used for tasks such as reading, facial recognition, driving, etc. Densely packed into the retina are photoreceptor cells, notably rods and cones, which react to
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Future experimental groups of this kind are expected to receive up to 200,000 cells per patient. Four moths post experiment of the first two patients (one with dry AMD, one with Stagardt’s disease), an early report showed no abnormal growths, teratoma, rejection, or inflammation [4]. The AMD patient did not follow the AMD immunosuppression regimen to completion, and no donor cells were detected, potentially indicating that immunosuppression is needed for donor cell survival. However, this patient did demonstrate significant improvement from reading 21 letters of the Early Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy Study eyechart before treatment, to reading 28 letters three months post transplantation. Suprisingly, mild improvement was noted in the accompanying untreated eye. As for the Sargardt’s disease patient, visual improvement was also observed (five letters of the Early Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy Study chart) including improved color vision and contrast/dark
Future experimental groups of this kind are expected to receive up to 200,000 cells per patient. Four moths post experiment of the first two patients (one with dry AMD, one with Stagardt’s disease), an early report showed no abnormal growths, teratoma, rejection, or inflammation [4]. The AMD patient did not follow the AMD immunosuppression regimen to completion, and no donor cells were detected, potentially indicating that immunosuppression is needed for donor cell survival. However, this patient did demonstrate significant improvement from reading 21 letters of the Early Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy Study eyechart before treatment, to reading 28 letters three months post transplantation. Suprisingly, mild improvement was noted in the accompanying untreated eye. As for the Sargardt’s disease patient, visual improvement was also observed (five letters of the Early Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy Study chart) including improved color vision and contrast/dark