Transplantation of healthy retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) into the subretinal space may become a useful treatment for patients with various retinal degenerations, including Staargardt's disease, macular degeneration, and some forms of retinitis pigmentosa. Previous workers have introduced RPE cells by passing a needle through the sclera, by tunneling through the anterior chamber over the iris root, or by cell injection into the subretinal space through the pars plana. However, few experiments have been done on the feasibility of performing RPE transplants using the modern pars plana vitrectomy techniques that are likely to be useful in humans. The purpose of this research program is to develop the techniques that will be required for the transplantation of healthy RPE cells onto Bruch's membrane in the human. Our goal is to develop these pars plana vitrectomy techniques by using the domestic pig as our experimental model. Initially, we will perform experiments to examine the effects of surgical debridement of the RPE in the domestic pig. We will then transplant donor RPE cells into the subretinal space using two complimentary techniques. First, we will inject suspensions of dissociated to repopulated Bruch's membrane and form a healthy, uniform monolayer of pigmented RPE. We will compare the ability of freshly harvested RPE and RPE from tissue culture to reattach to Bruch's membrane in these experiments. Second, we will transplant sheets of RPE stabilized in gelatin into the subretinal space, using monolayers of RPE attached to their native Bruch's membrane of RPE monolayers grown on extracellular matrix. Our goal is all of these studies is to replace denuded RPE with a healthy monolayer of RPE on Bruch's membrane.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Eye Institute (NEI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01EY010311-02
Application #
2164088
Study Section
Visual Sciences C Study Section (VISC)
Project Start
1994-01-01
Project End
1996-12-31
Budget Start
1995-01-01
Budget End
1995-12-31
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
1995
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Washington University
Department
Ophthalmology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
062761671
City
Saint Louis
State
MO
Country
United States
Zip Code
63130
Del Priore, Lucian V; Tezel, Tongalp H; Kaplan, Henry J (2004) Survival of allogeneic porcine retinal pigment epithelial sheets after subretinal transplantation. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 45:985-92
Del Priore, Lucian V; Kuo, Ya-Hui; Tezel, Tongalp H (2002) Age-related changes in human RPE cell density and apoptosis proportion in situ. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 43:3312-8
Del Priore, Lucian V; Geng, Lee; Tezel, Tongalp H et al. (2002) Extracellular matrix ligands promote RPE attachment to inner Bruch's membrane. Curr Eye Res 25:79-89
Tezel, T H; Kaplan, H J; Del Priore, L V (1999) Fate of human retinal pigment epithelial cells seeded onto layers of human Bruch's membrane. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 40:467-76
Tezel, T H; Del Priore, L V (1999) Repopulation of different layers of host human Bruch's membrane by retinal pigment epithelial cell grafts. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 40:767-74
Tezel, T H; Del Priore, L V (1999) TGF beta secretion modulates the density-dependent growth of pig retinal pigment epithelium in vitro. Ophthalmic Res 31:192-202
Tezel, T H; Del Priore, L V (1998) Serum-free media for culturing and serial-passaging of adult human retinal pigment epithelium. Exp Eye Res 66:807-15
Kaplan, H J; Tezel, T H; Del Priore, L V (1998) Retinal pigment epithelial transplantation in age-related macular degeneration. Retina 18:99-102
Bynoe, L A; Del Priore, L V; Hornbeck, R (1998) Photosensitization of retinal pigment epithelium by protoporphyrin IX. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol 236:230-3
Kim, K S; Tezel, T H; Del Priore, L V (1998) Minimum number of adult human retinal pigment epithelial cells required to establish a confluent monolayer in vitro. Curr Eye Res 17:962-9

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