Transplantation of Cultured Retinal Pigment Epithelium to Rabbit Retina Injured by Sodium Iodate

ABSTRACT

The authors investigated the possibility of transplanting cultured retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells to impaired retina. The authors induced injury of the outer sensory retina and RPE cells with the intravenous injection of 2% sodium iodate in forty pigmented rabbits. Transplantation of RPE cells was done by internal approach with a 30 gauge blunt needle. The neural retina spontaneously reattached within 36 hours. Light microscopic autoradiography showed that some labeled cells were attached to Bruch's membrane as early as in 2 hours and still found in 4 weeks after transplantation. Regeneration of the photoreceptor outer segment and its connection with transplanted RPE cell was not found. Present study demonstrates that cultured rabbit RPE cells can be successfully transplanted to injured rabbit retina if Bruch's membrane is intact. Although the regeneration of the photoreceptor outer segment failed to be demonstrated, further studies are necessary to confirm or disprove these results.