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[warabi-mochi]

Human retinal stem cells regenerated when they were transplanted into the eyes of mice and chicks, scientists at the University of Toronto found.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3950827.stm

Go Canada!

Read about this in the paper this morning as well. They're going to move onto more animal testing, and if that goes well they hope to begin human trials soon. Mostly they've been worried about the possibility of the stem cells becoming cancerous, but so far all indications are that it won't be a problem. The integrate completely normally into the retina.

 

[TheQueen'sOwn]

This will help them find out whether retinal stem cells can be used to treat degenerative diseases of the retina such as retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration, which are among the most common forms of blindness in developed countries.

Yeah.. my dad has RP (and inherently I might also). This would help quite a bit!

 

[Incognito]

sigh. the more promising research has become, the more depressing it is to konw that such research is greatly limited here in the US.

 

[videogamer]

these are adult stem cells, nothing controversial.

 

[explodet]

Encouraging stuff.
But the mere mention of eye cancer... youch.

 

[warabi-mochi]

Encouraging stuff.
But the mere mention of eye cancer... youch.

Well, as far as they can tell now it shouldn't be a problem. The original worry was that after they planted the stem cells, they might just keep multiplying over and over. Instead it seems like they just integrate themselves properly as retinal cells and then stop. The eye just tells them what to do, and they do it. So cancer shouldn't be a worry anymore.

 

[way more]

The eyeglass lobby is too powerfull, they will never allow it.

 

[Suranga3]

What's the big deal with stem cell research anyways? People actually think scientists are playing god with this shit?

 

[Heezzi]

Quick Fact: stem cells are the bulding blocks of all the cells in the body. They can be used to make any cell. So any cell will regrow when the stem cells are inserted in the affected region.

 

[videogamer]

Quick Fact: stem cells are the bulding blocks of all the cells in the body. They can be used to make any cell. So any cell will regrow when the stem cells are inserted in the affected region.

uh any linky to that bolded section?

 

[Iceman]

It's not like this kind of research isn't going on in the US.. or that huge collaborations involving US labs aren't going on with stem cells. I'm doing eye research at the Univ of Wisconsin.. the birthplace of stem cell research and just about everyone is using stem cells around here.

"The researchers took retinal stem cells from human cadavers and transplanted them into the eyes of one-day-old mice and chicks."

Here's your first problem. The environment of a 1 day old chick or mouse eye doesn't exactly correlate to the environment of and aged human eye. Heck, there are vast differences between human and monkey eyes... not to mention the inherent and as yet unresolved/uncharacterized differences between eyes of different ages. I forsee having to supplement transplantation with a growth factor infuser as has been the case in stem cells transplanted within the human brain for Parkinson's disease.

 

[videogamer]

It's not like this kind of research isn't going on in the US.. or that huge collaborations involving US labs aren't going on with stem cells. I'm doing eye research at the Univ of Wisconsin.. the birthplace of stem cell research and just about everyone is using stem cells around here.

How many of those researchers are not funded by the NIH?

 

[videogamer]

"The researchers took retinal stem cells from human cadavers and transplanted them into the eyes of one-day-old mice and chicks."

Here's your first problem. The environment of a 1 day old chick or mouse eye doesn't exactly correlate to the environment of and aged human eye. Heck, there are vast differences between human and monkey eyes... not to mention the inherent and as yet unresolved/uncharacterized differences between eyes of different ages. I forsee having to supplement transplantation with a growth factor infuser as has been the case in stem cells transplanted within the human brain for Parkinson's disease.

The research needs to built from the ground up first. The regulations probably wouldn't let the researchers go straight to a human model without first using the animal model. I think you understand this because you participate in research.

Human RSCs possess properties similar to mouse RSCs, including their rapid proliferation kinetics in vitro and their ability to proliferate without the addition of exogenous growth factors.

In the future, similar experiments will need to be done in adult mouse hosts with retinal degeneration phenotypes; further experiments will also need to identify the extrinsic factors biasing the cells toward specific cell fates to examine the potential of this work for human therapy.

http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/0401596101v1.pdf

 

[madara]

What's the big deal with stem cell research anyways? People actually think scientists are playing god with this shit?

Yes. Especially if you mix taking this "life essence" and start mixing it someday with cloning and other shit. If that's want a person wants fine by me. I not rightwinged preachy on that but if this offers to cure my MS and 5 other diseases I have now I still pass. But at sametime Im not narrowedmind like scientist to think will not be side effects to all these things someday.

 

[videogamer]

Yes. Especially if you mix taking this "life essence" and start mixing it someday with cloning and other shit.

Look up "somatic cell nuclear transfer" and "stem cells". It's not that scary.

But at sametime Im not narrowedmind like scientist to think will not be side effects to all these things someday.

Dude, I'd like to see a real scientific paper claiming that.

 

[DJ Demon J]

The eyeglass lobby is too powerfull, they will never allow it.

OMFG DANGERMOUSE. You sir, rock.