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Updated: Dec 7, 2025

Subretinal Transplantation of MACS Purified Photoreceptor Precursor Cells into the Adult Mouse Retina
Published on: February 22, 2014
The road to restore vision with photoreceptor regeneration
Chang-Jun Zhang1, Ya Ma2, Zi-Bing Jin2
1Laboratory for Stem Cell & Retinal Regeneration, The Eye Hospital, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, 325027, China.
Abstract:
Neuroretinal diseases are the predominant cause of irreversible blindness worldwide, mainly due to photoreceptor loss. Currently, there are no radical treatments to fully reverse the degeneration or even stop the disease progression. Thus, it is urgent to develop new biological therapeutics for these diseases on the clinical side. Stem cell-based treatments have become a promising therapeutic for neuroretinal diseases through the replacement of damaged cells with photoreceptors and some allied cells. To date, considerable efforts have been made to regenerate the diseased retina based on stem cell technology. In this review, we overview the current status of stem cell-based treatments for photoreceptor regeneration, including the major cell sources derived from different stem cells in pre-clinical or clinical trial stages. Additionally, we discuss herein the major challenges ahead for and potential new strategy toward photoreceptor regeneration.
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