Posted on 12th March, 2021 at 6:16:00 AM
Evidently, the superlative way to improve the quality of life of those in danger for glaucoma is to avert the commencement of their ailment. This could be accomplished by identification of the populace at risk, investigation of their initial mutilation and preventive treatment before vision is gone. However, in the actual world, these approaches either do not yet exist, or those that could be applied are incorrectly used. Consequently, we will be confronted for the predictable future with individuals whose vision is now irreversibly lost because of demise of retinal ganglion cells (RGC). Originally, the source of cells for a new optic nerve was supposed to be embryonic or fetal tissue. Embryonic stem cells had just been labeled and there was a likelihood that these could be directed towards neural lineage and increased to offer the numbers required.
A second source would be embryonic retinal ganglion cells distanced from the developing retina. These have been used in a multiplicity of trials in vitro and have the benefit that they are already dedicated to becoming RGC. The number that could be anticipated from one fetal eye would be up to 3 million in a human. Presently, the solitary FDA approved technique of treating glaucoma is to lower eye pressure; this decelerates the progression of glaucomatous optic nerve damage but does not totally pause it, and surely does not regenerate impaired nerve tissue. There is exceptional interest amid glaucoma patients, scientists and clinicians alike, in determining regenerative therapies for the optic nerve and decoding them from the laboratory to the clinic — and stem cell therapy is one of numerous auspicious attitudes being studied.
Stem cells might be useful for patients with glaucoma in diverse ways. Stem cells can be rotated into trabecular meshwork cells in the front of the eye and relocated in such a way as to lower eye pressure. This is a remarkable methodology but is not basically about vision renewal. For guarding or reinstating vision, we certainly need to point out stem cells in the back of the eye, at the retina. There, stem cells might have two optimistic effects. First, early in the ailment, they might guard retinal ganglion cells from deteriorating — providing a neuroprotective effect. Later in the ailment when patients have lost substantial numbers of retinal ganglion cells and optic nerve axons, and have thus lost substantial vision, optic nerve transplant stem cells might be worthwhile to replace lost ganglion cells and reinstate the connections from the eye to the brain.
