Ocular Transplantation LLC wants to help blind and vision-impaired people by developing methods, instruments and research support for Retinal Transplantation. In retinal diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration, there are two types of cells that degenerate: the nourishing cell layer called the retinal pigment epithelium; and the light-sensitive photoreceptor cells which are nourished by the retinal pigment epithelium. At the end of the 80's, it was shown by two different research groups that transplantation of healthy retinal pigment epithelium cells can "rescue" photoreceptors in animals with defective retinal pigment epithelium. A second approach aiming to restore vision is to replace the damaged photoreceptors by new healthy retinal cells. Several research groups in the field have transplanted the retinal tissue as cell suspension, broken-up pieces or as intact sheets. The firmâs research team has developed an approach to transplant sheets of both cell types together. The Ocular Transplantation LLC research team has restored or preserved light sensitivity in several animal models with a diseased or damaged retinas. Retinal transplantation research targets macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa. Other diseases that might be helped are Stargardt's disease, familiar drusen, and dystrophy of retinal pigment epithelium after neovascular membrane removal. The causes for these diseases are largely unknown, and there is currently no other treatment available that can reverse the degenerative processes. This research team can now replace degenerated photoreceptors and retinal pigment epithelium cells, which give hope for restored function. The research group has focused on transplanting sheets of neuroblastic retinal progenitor cells.
