Transplanted human cones incorporate into the retina and function in a murine cone degeneration model
Research output: Contribution to journal › Research article › Contributed › peer-review
Contributors
Abstract
Once human photoreceptors die, they do not regenerate, thus photoreceptor transplantation has emerged as a potential treatment approach for blinding diseases. Improvements in transplant organization, donor cell maturation and synaptic connectivity to the host will be critical in advancing this technology to clinical practice. Unlike the unstructured grafts of prior cell suspension transplantations into end-stage degeneration models, we describe extensive incorporation of iPSC retinal organoid-derived human photoreceptors into mice with cone dysfunction. This incorporative phenotype was validated in both cone-only as well as pan-photoreceptor transplantations. Rather than forming a glial barrier, Müller cells extended throughout the graft, even forming a series of adherens junctions between mouse and human cells, reminiscent of an outer limiting membrane. Donor-host interaction appeared to promote polarisation as well as development of morphological features critical for light detection, namely formation of inner and well stacked outer segments oriented towards the retinal pigment epithelium. Putative synapse formation and graft function was evident both at a structural and electrophysiological level. Overall, these results show that human photoreceptors interact readily with a partially degenerated retina. Moreover, incorporation into the host retina appears to be beneficial to graft maturation, polarisation and function.
Details
Original language | English |
---|---|
Article number | e154619 |
Number of pages | 19 |
Journal | The Journal of clinical investigation |
Volume | 132 |
Issue number | 12 |
Early online date | 28 Apr 2022 |
Publication status | Published - 28 Apr 2022 |
Peer-reviewed | Yes |
External IDs
Mendeley | a08e43f6-39f9-3b32-96a2-6c69195ccbb4 |
---|---|
Scopus | 85130349453 |
WOS | 000814089100002 |
unpaywall | 10.1172/jci154619 |
ORCID | /0000-0001-5624-1717/work/142239046 |
ORCID | /0000-0002-0926-6556/work/142250478 |
ORCID | /0000-0001-9467-7677/work/161888179 |
Keywords
Research priority areas of TU Dresden
DFG Classification of Subject Areas according to Review Boards
Sustainable Development Goals
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Keywords
- Animals, Ependymoglial Cells, Humans, Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells/transplantation, Mice, Photoreceptor Cells, Vertebrate/metabolism, Retina/metabolism, Retinal Cone Photoreceptor Cells, Retinal Degeneration/metabolism