Japan carried out the first transplant of the retina

Japanese national Institute of natural Sciences reported the first positive results of clinical trials developed methods to grow retina from stem cells and its subsequent transplantation to humans. The first in the history of man with an artificial retina recovered four days after the operation.





Patient-experimenter is a 70-year-old Japanese woman. The operation was carried out on Friday due to the progression of macular degeneration. A woman reports that after the surgery she began to see clearer. On the basis of these reports, the scientists believe the successful outcome of the operation. At the same time, representatives of the Institute do not exclude the possibility of the development of this effect for a simple low tide blood cells, so it is too early to draw final conclusions.

Macular degeneration is a lesion of the retina, which is the main cause of blindness in the elderly. Existing methods of treatment of this disease are reduced to only temporary symptoms. The experts of the Institute count on the success of the operation and further development on the basis of this experience, the world's first methods of treatment of macular degeneration. In the future, will be held the world's first clinical trials of the method in which you plan to grow a retina from stem cells even for the five patients with macular dystrophy at the age of 50 years.

After Professor Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto opened in 2012, the methodology for the production of stem cells from normal, he was awarded the Nobel prize in medicine and began active development of new methods of regenerative medicine. The Japanese government is so interested in the projects of professors that is already ready to devote to his studies more than $ 1 billion. Similar developments are now open to institutions from other countries.



Source: scienceblog.ru