More BrandsScientists from the Cedars-Sinai Regenerative Medicine Institute have developed a new method of using human amniotic membrane for growing stem cells that can be used in corneal transplantation to treat corneal blindness. Corneal blindness is a condition affecting around eight million people in the world every year, and is sometimes caused by a deficiency of stem cells resulting from a genetic fault or an eye injury that leads to loss of vision. While one of the ways to transplant corneal cells is via a biopsy from another eye, another is by seperately growing stem cells.
The new method uses amniotic membrane – the thin film separating the foetus from the placenta – as a scaffold on which new stem cells can grow. However, amniotic cells should be fully removed in advance for the best growth of stem cells. What the researchers at Cedars-Sinai did was find a way to remove all amniotic cells from the membrane and do it quick – the new method only takes a minute.
The lead author of the study, Alexander Ljubimov, said the new procedure will help turn amniotic membrane into a standard stem cell culture support which will have widespread implications for researchers, surgeons and the industrial sector. Ljubimov is head of the Eye Program at Cedars-Sinai Regenerative Medicine Institute. Another member of the research team, Mehrnoosh Saghizadeh, added that the new technique has great potential for streamlining clinical approaches to treating corneal disease in particular, and can bring benefits for tissue and stem cell growing for regenerative medicine purposes in general.
