Stem Cell Experiments Slow Vision Loss in Rats

[cal04]

Researchers will report today that cells grown from human embryonic stem cells slowed vision loss when injected into the eyes of rats with a disease similar to macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in people older than 55.

The experiments do not prove that the cells, obtained through the destruction of human embryos, will work in people. But by showing that the cells have the potential to fill in for failing cells in the retina, experts said, the work may help justify trying the technique in humans.

Raymond D. Lund, then at the University of Utah's John A. Moran Eye Center in Salt Lake City, and Robert Lanza of Advanced Cell Technology Inc. (ACT) in Worcester, Mass., started by developing a reliable method for turning embryonic stem cells into retinal pigment epithelium cells, which nourish the light-sensitive "photoreceptor" cells in the eye. In macular degeneration, the pigment cells gradually disappear.

The researchers achieved the transformation in all 18 stem cell lines they worked with -- including some provided by the National Institutes of Health and others developed privately at Harvard University and at ACT -- proving that their approach can consistently produce the crucial pigment cells. Then they injected the cells, about 20,000 per eye, into the retinas of 14 rats with a genetic disease similar to macular degeneration. Eight control rats received eye injections without any cells.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/20/AR2006092001674.html

[donco6]

1. I wonder if it will be ready for human testing soon?

This runs in my family, and I'm 46. I've worried about it since I was small.

[NOLADEM]

2. Is it ok that I like this in part because it pisses off the right....

every time this stuff works.

[SKKY]

3. Why do I have a feeling we're on the verge of curing, like....

....200 different illnesses, diseases, conditions, but the ones that generate the most money (cancer, aids, etc) will remain elusively beyond our
grasps? I understand there's more to be made in treating an ilness than curing it, but come on! Where's the humanity? Oh well, I guess like that
facial chemical peel, the hip replacement, the penis enlargment, and my MCSE bootcamp, I'll be able to get it done better and for 1/4 the price
in India.

[justgamma]

4. That's great!

I worry for my kids. My husband lost his sight due to this.

But why did they have to throw in this line? "obtained through the destruction of human embryos"
That was totally unnecessary.

[fishnfla]

5. this is a no brainer

from what I've seen

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

6. Is that the same bunch of rats that were in

an earlier masturbation study?

:hide:

[pitohui]

7. please god the sooner the better

i have a relative who has had this for years, she still drives because what option do we have in this society, but sooner or later somebody's going to get hurt