Biohybrid retina
Age–related macular degeneration (AMD) is a neurodegenerative disease that causes progressive loss of central vision and even blindness. This is the main cause of irreversible vision loss in people over 65 years of age. AMD affects more than 196 million people worldwide and still has no treatment other than symptomatic. The mechanisms of AMD development are heterogeneous, complex and still poorly understood.
The research team, led by Fivos Panetsos from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, has developed the first artificial retina on silk fibroin, which can be implanted into the patient's eye and replace the destroyed tissue with it.
The biohybrid retina is a variant of cell therapy. Researchers have developed fibroin films with mechanical characteristics similar to the Bruch membrane, a cellular layer in the retina that performs a supporting function. Then they modified the films so that retinal cells could linger on them and give new epithelial and nerve cells.
They placed artificial retinal cells on biofilms, covering them on top with a special gel that protects the biohybrid during implantation surgery and allows the cells to survive for the time needed to integrate with the surrounding tissue.
The biohybrid retina may also contain mesenchymal cells that produce neuroprotective and neuropreparative molecules and promote functional integration between implanted cells and patient cells.
The group conducted an in vitro study of the structural and functional characteristics of the 3D biohybrid retina and demonstrated its capabilities: primary culture neurons grow and develop processes on fibroin biofilms either independently or in the presence of other cells cultured on the same biomaterial; cellular organization was maintained in vitro for seven days of the experiment.
AMD is a serious incurable disease, but this study is an important step towards solving the problem of irreversible vision loss.
Article by N.Jemni-Damer et al. First steps for the development of silk fibroin-based 3D biohybrid retina for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is published in the Journal of Neural Engineering.
Aminat Adzhieva, portal "Eternal Youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on EurekAlert: Development of the first biohybrid artificial retina built with silk fibroin and retinal cells.