[Effect of neonatal retinal pigment cell transplantation on aged retinas].
The authors performed neonatal healthy retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) transplantation into older eyes to test whether aging changes could be deterred or arrested in an appropriate model. Fischer-344 rats, a model for studying age-related photoreceptor cell death, were used as the recipient and 6- to 8-day-old Long Evans rats were used as the donor of neonatal RPE. Isolated RPE cells were transplanted into the subretinal space in 24, 3-month-old Fischer-344 rats. The presence of healthy neonatal RPE cells significantly maintained the thickness of each layer as compared to the findings in nongrafted and sham operated controls at 3 and 6 months after the transplantation. The transplanted RPE cells saved the reduction of cell population caused by aging from 40% to 17% in the outer nuclear layer and from 33% to 8% in the inner nuclear layer at 6 months after transplantation.
Yamaguchi
K
K
Department of Ophthalmology, Tohoku University School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan.
Yamaguchi
K
K
Gaur
V P
VP
Turner
J E
JE
D000375:Aging / Q000473:pathology*; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D008297:Male; D010857:Pigment Epithelium of Eye / Q000166:cytology / Q000637:transplantation*; D051381:Rats; D011916:Rats, Inbred F344; D012160:Retina / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*