Transplantation of retinal cells

This paper traces the history of transplantation of dissociated retinal epithelial and/or photoreceptor cells. It describes our most recent results on the long term allotransplantation of cultured, tritiated thymidine labeled pigmented retinal epithelial cells into the retina of albino rabbits immunosuppressed with cyclosporine. Cultured rabbit retinal epithelial cells survive for months after transplantation, resume phagocytosis of host outer segments and form junctional complexes with each other and with host retinal epithelium. It also describes long term transplantation of photoreceptors (rods) from normal rats into the almost receptorless retina of a congenic dystrophic rat. These rods maintain primitive outer segments and appear to form synapses on host retinal neurons. The results suggest that cellular reconstruction of the degenerated retina may become a feasible undertaking.