Stem cells used to create mini human eyes

The breakthrough was made by scientists from the LV Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI) in India, who have been experimenting on st cells for the past 15 years.While they are still unable to grow complete eyes using the technique, the researchers have indicated the latest development could be useful for treating critical eye injuries.{{quote-A:R-W:450-Q: The research also holds promise for the development of ‘lab-grown’ eyes in the future }}The research also holds promise for the development of ‘lab-grown’ eyes in the future, as the organoids developed by the institute are capable of repeating steps of the normal corneal development.“These organoids recapitulate the early developmental events in vitro and displayed similar anatomical features and marker expression profiles as that of adult tissues, and offer an alternative tissue source for regenerating different tissues of the eye and eliminate the need for complicated cell enrichment procedures,” the researchers said in a presentation at the International Congress of Cell Biology.Lead researcher Dr Indumathi Mariappan told local newspaper The Times of India that all three layers of the cornea had been observed in the mini eyes, which indicated it had developed correctly.{{image2-a:r-w:400}}“Eye field primordial clusters that erged from differentiating pluripotent st cells developed into whole eye ball-like, self-organised, three-dimensional, miniature structures consisting of retinal primordia, corneal primordia, primitive eye lid-like outer covering and ciliary margin zone-like adnexal tissues in a step-wise maturation process within 15 weeks,” she said.“Availability of such mini corneas at 10 weeks of maturation circumvents the need for complicated cell enrichment protocols and offers a simpler method of establishing enriched cultures of corneal epithelial cell sheets for basic research and for regenerative applications.”Mariappan’s laboratory is involved in basic and translational research aimed at addressing retinal and corneal disease, by using different sources of adult and pluripotent st cells. The LVPEI has been conducting st cell research since 2004.