Human Tissue Successfully Grafted Into Monkeys With Damaged Retinas

Health and Medicine





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The study suggests it could be possible to treat retinitis pigmentosa by transplanting stem cell-derived tissue. Left-Handed Photography/Shutterstock

There could be hope on the horizon for an untreatable genetic disease: Scientists have successfully grown eye tissue in the lab and transplanted it into monkeys with models of a human degenerative disease that affects the retina. Not only did the graft survive, but it also showed signs of integration with the recipient’s eye cells, forming connections across which information could potentially flow.