Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Age-Related Macular Degeneration (ARMD) is the most common cause of irreversible vision loss in the United States in those 50 years of age or older. Dry ARMD is associated with abnormalities in the support layer beneath the retina, although the exact cause remains unknown. ARMD ultimately results in the loss of light-sensing cells, called photoreceptors, in the retina.

The additional development of abnormal blood vessels below the retina can speed photoreceptor damage and vision loss. This condition is called the "wet" type of ARMD.

Although treatments to slow some forms of the disease exist, most affected people experience a progressive loss of central vision as they age, making reading or recognizing faces increasingly difficult.

Normal Retina	Dry ARMD	Wet ARMD

Retinitis Pigmentosa

Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) is a group of inherited diseases that causes a progressive degeneration of the specialized light-sensing retinal cells, the photoreceptors, deep within the retina. It affects 1.5 million children and adults worldwide and, except for a few rare forms, has no effective treatments.

Unlike age-related macular degeneration, RP affects peripheral vision first, causing tunnel vision and ultimately blindness in many people. In the late stages of the disease, when most or all photoreceptor cells in the retina have been destroyed, stem cells may someday be able to take the place of the destroyed cells. Earlier in the disease, stem cells could potentially be used to deliver drugs to the retina to help preserve at-risk cells and slow vision loss.

"Our research is investigating whether various forms of stem cells can be used to rescue or replace cells in degenerative diseases. In our laboratories, we have engineered stem cells to secrete protective factors. We found that stem cells can travel within a diseased retina, survive, release their protective factors and exert other beneficial effects. In on-going studies we will try to determine the full potential of these stem cells to treat RP and ARMD."

Glaucoma

In the United States approximately 100,000 people are legally blind from glaucoma. The only proven treatment is drug therapy or surgically lowering the intraocular pressure, but many patients lose vision despite treatment. Visual loss is irreversible because the cell that dies, the retinal ganglion cell, cannot replace itself. A potential target for stem cell therapy is this retinal ganglion cell. Finding a way to differentiate stem cells into retinal ganglion cells and allow them to connect to their appropriate targets would be a major step in repopulating the neurons lost in glaucoma.

"Previous research has led to treatments that today enable us to keep most patients with glaucoma from going blind. However, once vision is gone there is no way to bring it back. With stem cell research we are beginning to take the first steps down the long and complex road to restoring lost vision with stem cell therapy."

Stroke and Traumatic Injury

The nerve cells in our eyes are called retinal ganglion cells. These cells collect light from the outside world and convert it to electrical impulses that are sent to the visual cortex of our brain. There, in the visual cortex, incoming electrical messages are interpreted as perceptions. All of the images and colors that make up our visual world are created in the cortex. If the visual cortex is injured by trauma or stroke, we lose our ability to see. When the visual cortex of the brain is damaged, a cascade of neural cell death is triggered that affects all of the cells in the visual system including the retinal ganglion cells. The death of retinal ganglion cells contributes significantly to the blindness that results directly from injury to the visual cortex. Fortunately, however, retinal ganglion cell death due to cortical injury occurs slowly. If visual cortical neurons that have died because of injury can be replaced, retinal ganglion cells that would otherwise die might be saved, and the loss of vision reduced or prevented.

"For many years, our laboratory has studied the neural and behavioral consequences of injury to the visual cortex, with the aim of developing treatments to prevent or reduce the death of injured nerve cells in the cortex. Recently, our research has focused on transplanting neural stem cells to the injured visual cortex to see if these stem cells can replace those that have died because of injury."

"Our present results show that when neural stem cells are transplanted to the injured visual cortex, the stem cells survive and make new neural cells. While this is a very promising first step, we now need to determine if the transplanted stem cells make functional connections, and if they respond to incoming messages from the eye. Positive results from this ongoing research will provide strong support for using transplanted neural stem cells to restore vision that has been lost because of injury to the visual cortex from trauma or stroke."

The path to the treatment of blinding disorders is research

Stem Cell Research

Stem cells are primitive cells that have not yet fully matured into specific cells, such as those that make up muscle, bone, skin, brain or retina. They often retain their ability to divide and become many of the cells, or building blocks, present in our bodies.

Setting Our Sights on Blinding Disorders

The emerging field of stem cell research offers hope for a broad range of diseases and disabilities. This is an exciting time in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences as the prospect for overcoming blinding disorders is more promising than ever before. The unique team of stem cell researchers at the UW-Madison is dedicated to working on problems of vision loss and prevention.

Keeping Hope in Sight

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is a world leader in the development of stem cell technology and is committed to finding ways to apply the benefits of stem cell research to medical conditions that threaten people's lives and well being. The Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences is consistently ranked among the top five ophthalmology departments in National Institutes of Health research funding.

Research relies on government support from organizations like the National Institutes of Health whose mission is to help people live fuller, richer lives. Research also relies on private support that comes from people whose lives have been touched by these disorders. Gifts-- your gifts-- allow researchers to experiment with new ideas, test promising theories and explore the possibilities.

Treatment takes research. Research takes you.

For more information on how your gift can support stem cell research in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences please contact:

Barb McCarthy
Director of Development, Stem Cell Research and Regenerative Medicine
University of Wisconsin Foundation

1848 University Avenue
Madison, WI 53726
608-265-5891
www.uwfoundation.wisc.edu

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