RETINAL TRANSPLANTATION - NEUROBIOLOGICAL PROBLEMS AND CLINICAL PERSPECTIVES

Retinal transplantation, formerly perceived as unrealistic, has become over the past decade a major clinical and biological undertakement in several laboratories and eye clinics. We describe the insights gained through the pioneering experimental works of Del Cerro et al, Turner et al, Gouras et al, Aramant et al, Lund et al e.g. the survival of tr ansplants, the lack of immune response to photoreceptors, their integr ation and expression of neuronal markers, but also the dysplastic arra ngement into rosettes and the lack of a definitive proof for functionn ality. Our laboratory has undertaken to establish the trophic and syna ptic functions of sheets of photoreceptors transplanted, as described by Silverman et al, in the subretinal space of mutant rd mice carrying a retinal degeneration similar to human retinitis pigmentosa. Clinica l applications to this condition as well as in cases of end-stage age related macular degeneration are discussed.