Prof A Lotery II-FS-0109-11028

Loss of the cells at the back of the eye which sense light (photoreceptors) cause the loss of vision seen in age related macular degeneration (AMD). AMD is the commonest cause of blindness in the Developed World and affects one in three people by age 75. Photoreceptors are also lost in other degenerative retinal diseases including retinitis pigmentosa (RP), which is the most prevalent cause of untreatable blindness in the world with 1 in 4000 people affected. Adult stem-cell treatments offer a new approach for restoration of vision for conditions which have a huge economic burden on medical services (estimated to be at least €100 million a year). It has been proven that immature retinal cells can be injected into the eye and these cells subsequently become part of the retina and mature into working photoreceptors. If the success rate of such injections could be increased this approach has the potential to restore the sight in people with retinal degenerative disease. We believe that the efficiency of such injections could be increased if the cells used in this potential treatment were attached to a synthetic plastic (polymer) support which would dissolve over time. We have prepared a variety of such polymers and now wish to develop their application in this proposal. This will be achieved by: 1) Altering the surface of the polymers to promote cell attachment and survival. 2) Exploring how quickly the polymers break down in the eye and the factors which control this. 3) Measuring our success by integrating adult stem cells into the retina in a mouse model of macular degeneration. Comparison will be made between cells delivered with and without various polymer delivery support systems. 4) To use the data from aims 1-3 to optimise this approach for potential clinical use in humans._____