Photoreceptors derived from adult iris tissue: prospects for retinal transplantation.
While a number of retinal transplantation studies using various types of donor cells have been performed thus far, our study focused on iris tissue as a donor cell source. This is because donor cells from iris pigment epithelium have the following characteristics: (1) they are embryonically related to the neural retina; (2) autologous iris tissue can be obtained via a surgical approach; and (3) they can be cultured to increase the number of donor cells and establish photoreceptor-like cells from iris-derived cells by means of the appropriate gene transfer. Although the potential of iris-derived cells has been indicated, there remain many issues to be investigated.
Akagi
Tadamichi
T
Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan. akagi@kuhp.kyoto-u.ac.jp
D000818:Animals; D017690:Cell Transplantation; D006801:Humans; D007498:Iris / Q000166:cytology*; D020419:Photoreceptor Cells, Vertebrate / Q000637:transplantation*; D010857:Pigment Epithelium of Eye / Q000166:cytology*; D012160:Retina / Q000637:transplantation*; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000502:physiology
D014157:Transcription Factors