The High Bar For Retinal Regeneration
EurekAlert reports on work that would seem to set the high bar for tissue engineering a cure for degenerative blindness. "The key to their success is that they transplant intact, 2-millimetre-square sheets of the upper retinal layer. This preserves the circuitry of the light-sensing cells, as well as the supporting cells that nourish them. Aramant is dismissive of the stem-cell work, pointing out that no one is anywhere near recreating the complex structure of the retina using stem cells." Methods of generating complex tissue from stem cells will catch up - and would seem to be the most ethical way of generating the amount of complex retinal tissue required for this sort of therapy to be widely available.
Link: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-10/ns-ftr102704.php