According to ISSCR, Stem cell research is a evolving technology that takes primitive human cells and develops them into most any of the 220 varieties of cells in the human body, including blood cells,brain cells,eye,etc
Stem cells have two properties. First, they can ‘self-renew,’ that is they can divide and give rise to more stem cells of the same kind. Second, they can mature or ‘differentiate’ into specialized cells that carry out a specific function, such as in the skin, muscle, or blood
A stem cell therapy is a treatment.This utilises stem cells, to replace or to repair a patient’s cells or tissues that are damaged. The stem cells might be put into the blood, or transplanted into the damaged tissue directly, or even recruited from the patient’s own tissues for self-repair.
Blood stem cells by bone marrow transplant is being done more than 50 years, and advanced techniques for collecting blood stem cells are now used clinically. Umbilical cord blood, like bone marrow, is often collected as a source of blood stem cells and is being used experimentally as an alternative to bone marrow in transplantation.
A few years ago, Dr. Funderburgh and other University of Pittsburgh researchers identified stem cells in a layer of the cornea called the stroma.The US team took stem cells from human corneas and implanted them into the eyes of partially blind mice who were missing a structural protein.
Three months after treatment with the cells, the cloudiness was gone and their corneas were as transparent as those of normal mice.
We look forward to more good news from Stem Cell therapy.So keep watching this space for more and more news on Stem Cell therapy in the Eye.
