Scientists in the United States have created an eye tissue using a patient's stem cells and 3D bioprinting technology, which will provide a modern understanding of vision loss diseases.

The team of researchers from the National Eye Institute (NEI) printed a mixture of cells that form the outer blood retina barrier of the retina. It is the tissue of the eye that supports photoreceptors that sense the light of the retina.

This technique could theoretically provide unlimited amounts of patient-made tissue for the study of visual impairment diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD).


Dr Kapil Bharti, head of ocular and stem cell translational research at NEI, said, "We know that the AMD curtain starts from the outer layer of vision, but there is very little understanding of the mechanism for AMD to start and reach extremely dry and tardy, due to the lack of anatomically appropriate human samples."

The outer blood retinal barrier (OBRB) consists of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), which the brochus membrane separates from the blood vessel-rich chorio capillaries, the proches membrane controls the exchange of components and litter between the choriocapillaries and the RPE.

In AMD, lipoprotein deposits accumulate outside the brooches membrane, making it difficult to function. Deterioration of RPE over time impairs the photoreceptor and causes vision loss.


In this study, Kapil Bharti and his colleagues combined three immature choroidal cell types to form a hydrogel. These cells included pericytes, endothelial (which are important for arteries) and fibroblasts (which form tissue).


The scientists molded the gel into a biodegradable (material made from bacteria and did not cause contamination) frame. Within a few days, the cells matured into a dense arterial network.


This process of reaching the dense net from the cells lasted for 42 days.