Stems Cells Could Treat Corneal Hazing

“Treating the potentially blinding haze of a scar on the cornea might be as straightforward as growing stem cells from a tiny biopsy of the patient's undamaged eye and then placing them on the injury site, according to mouse model experiments. The findings could rescue vision for millions of people worldwide and decrease the need for corneal transplants.” That’s the word from Science Daily. Read more.

Scientists Grow Corneal Tissue

“A team of scientists from several Harvard-affiliated centers in Boston, MA, has grown human corneal tissue in mice using adult-derived human stem cells. They believe their breakthrough will bring hope to people who have impaired or lost vision due to burns, chemical injuries, or eye diseases that damage the cornea,” reports Medical News Today. “Dr. Bruce Ksander, associate professor of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School, and also of Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary, and colleagues write about their work - the first known example of tissue grown from a human stem cell - in the journal Nature. The cells that make up the cornea - the transparent ‘window’ of tissue at the front of the eye - are constantly damaged from blinking and exposure to the outside world. To repair the damage, the eye maintains a small number of ‘limbal stem cells’ at the edge of the cornea.” Read more.

Scientists Find New Layer to Cornea

"A new layer in the human cornea - discovered by researchers at The University of Nottingham last year - plays a vital role in the structure of the tissue that controls the flow of fluid from the eye, research has shown, " according to Medical News Today. "The findings, published in a paper in the British Journal of Ophthalmology, could shed new light on glaucoma, a devastating disease caused by defective drainage of fluid from the eye and the world's second leading cause of blindness. The latest research shows that the new layer, dubbed Dua's Layer after the academic Professor Harminder Dua who discovered it, makes an important contribution to the sieve-like meshwork, the trabecular meshwork (TM), in the periphery of the cornea." Read more.

Company Formed to Engineer Cornea Replacements

“Ocular Systems, Inc. (OSI), Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and the North Carolina Eye Bank have formed a new company based on a promising new technology aimed at engineering replacement corneas in the lab for transplantation,” reports Science Digest.Read more.

Scientists Develop Two Systems for Corneal Endothelium

"Human corneal endothelial cells (HCEnCs) form a monolayer of hexagonal cells whose main function is to maintain corneal clarity by regulating corneal hydration. Cell loss due to aging or corneal endothelial disorders, such as Fuchs dystrophy, can lead to cornea edema and blindness, resulting in the need for cornea transplants." That's the start of a post on a new develpment regarding endothelial cells on Science Daily. "Studying human corneal endothelium has been difficult for cell biologists because limited cellular model systems exist and have significant drawbacks. The major drawback is that HCEnC cells do not divide and there is a limited source of these cells both for patient transplantation and for study in the laboratory. This field of study is now easier. Scientists from the Schepens Eye Research Institute, [Massachusetts] Eye and Ear, have developed of HCENC-21 and HCEnC-21T, two novel model systems for human corneal endothelium. Their findings, "Telomerase Immortalization of Human Corneal Endothelial Cells Yield Functional Hexagonal Monolayers," are online in the [peer-reviewed] PLOS One." Read more.

Why the Cornea Repels Infections, Study Finds

"Exposed tissue surfaces [such as the cornea], including skin and mucous membranes, are under constant threat of attack by microorganisms in the environment. The layer of cells that line these areas, known as epithelial cells, are the first line of defense against these pathogens, but the underlying molecular mechanisms that allow them to repel microbes are unknown," reports Medical News Today. "In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, report that epithelial cells in the cornea, which is highly resistant to bacterial infection, express small antimicrobial peptides, portions of human cytokeratin 6A, that defend the eye against infection. Using mass spectrometry, Suzanne Fleiszig and colleagues determined that these peptides protect against multiple bacterial pathogens by preventing the bacteria from binding to the epithelial cells. Additionally, they found that mice lacking cytokeratin 6A were more susceptible to eye infections." Read more. Read the study at this site.

Stem Cells to Repair the Cornea

"A new cornea may be the only way to prevent a patient going blind - but there is a shortage of donated corneas and the queue for transplantation is long. Scientists at the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, have for the first time successfully cultivated stem cells on human corneas, which may in the long term remove the need for donors," according to Medical News Today. Read more.

Hiatian Teacher/Student Regains Sight

"It started with splintering headaches. Then there was double vision. It got to the point where 29-year-old Ezechias Toussaint couldn’t blink his right eye, so his cornea was exposed to scratches, and he endured stabbing pain and cloudy sight," says the News-Press. "The elementary school instructor and university student lives in the coastal city of Saint-Marc, about an hour north of the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. In Haiti, poor vision can have severe consequences, as handicaps and illnesses are often misunderstood. And Toussaint, who was suffering from a type of facial palsy, couldn’t teach or learn when he couldn’t see to read.On Tuesday, Toussaint was in a Fort Myers operating room, receiving surgery that will allow him to close his eye once again, giving his cornea a chance to heal and restoring his sight. The $4,000 treatment, including an MRI and surgery, was donated by area medical personnel." For video go to NBC-2.com.