Scientists of a city-based premier eye institute and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, US today claimed to have discovered potent stem cells in eye that possess the ability to restore lost vision.
"The new treatment could eventually become an alternative to corneal transplantation," Dr Sayan Basu, Consultant Corneal Surgeon, LV Prasad Eye Institute, told reporters here.
The stromal stem cells were retrieved from the area between the white and black part of the eyeball called the limbus, he said.
"We found that when the stem cells were applied to damaged corneas they healed and became clear again within four weeks of treatment, while those untreated remained clouded," Basu said.
Scarring or whitening of the cornea, which is the central dark portion of the eye, following infection or injury affects more than 250 million people worldwide and has blinded over six million of them, the surgeon said.
Basu, along with James L Funderburgh, a professor of ophthalmology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, US, tested the stem cells they obtained from human eyes on an experimental model of corneal scarring.
"Even at the microscopic level, we could not tell the difference between the tissues that were treated with stem cells and undamaged cornea," a release quoted Dr Funderburgh as saying.
Dr Funderburgh is also the associate director of Louis J Fox Centre for Vision Restoration and the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Pittsburgh.
The findings, published today in 'Science Translational Medicine' could one day restore vision for millions of people worldwide and decrease the need for corneal transplants, Basu said.
"The discovery also underwent the peer review process. In India, scarring is the main indication for corneal transplantation, for which 2,00000 people are currently estimated to be in the waiting lists," Basu added.
