Researchers use 3D bioprinting to create eye tissue
The scientists used stem cells from affected individuals and three-dimensional bioprinting to produce eye tissue to increase experience
The research team at the Countrywide Eye Institute (NEI), part of the Countrywide Institutes of Health,
The approach features a theoretically unlimited delivery of tissue derived from an affected person to test for degenerative diseases of the retina
"We know that AMD starts at the outer blood-retinal barrier," said Kapil Bharti, who leads the NEI segment on Stem Cell and Ocular Translational Research
"However, the mechanisms of initiation and progression of AMD to advanced dry and wet levels remain poorly understood due to the lack of physiologically
The outer blood-retinal barrier includes the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), separated by Bruch's membrane from the blood-vessel-rich choriocapillaris.
Bruch's membrane regulates the exchange of vitamins and wastes between the choriocapillaris and the RPE. In AMD, lipoprotein deposits called drusen
Bharti and his colleagues combined three types of immature choroidal cells in a hydrogel: pericytes and endothelial cells