Department of Life Science Engineering, Faculty of New Sciences and Technologies, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
Biomed Phys Eng Express. 2019 Nov 13;6(1):012001. doi: 10.1088/2057-1976/ab269a.
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is known as a major cause of irreversible blindness in elderly adults. The segment of the retina responsible for central vision damages in the disease process. Degeneration of retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE) cells, photoreceptors, and choriocapillaris associated with aging participate for visual loss. In 2010, AMD involved 6.6% of all blindness cases around the world. Some of the researches have evaluated the replacing of damaged RPE in AMD patients by using the cells from various sources. Today, the advancement of RPE differentiation or generation from stem cells has been gained, and currently, clinical trials are testing the efficiency and safety of replacing degenerated RPE with healthy RPE. However, the therapeutic success of RPE transplantation may be restricted unless the transplanted cells can be adhered, distributed and survive for long-term in the transplanted site without any infections. In recent years a variety of scaffold types were used as a carrier for RPE transplantation and AMD treatment. In this review, we have discussed types of scaffolds; natural or synthetic, solid or hydrogel and their results in RPE replacement. Eventually, our aim is highlighting the novel and best scaffold carriers that may have potentially promoting the efficacy of RPE transplantation.
年龄相关性黄斑变性（AMD）是导致老年人不可逆性失明的主要原因之一。视网膜的中央视觉部分在疾病过程中受损。与衰老相关的视网膜色素上皮（RPE）细胞、光感受器和脉络膜毛细血管的退化导致了视力丧失。2010 年，AMD 占全球所有失明病例的 6.6%。一些研究评估了通过使用来自各种来源的细胞来替代 AMD 患者受损的 RPE。如今，已经取得了从干细胞中分化或生成 RPE 的进展，目前正在临床试验中测试用健康的 RPE 替代退化的 RPE 的效率和安全性。然而，除非移植的细胞能够在没有任何感染的情况下黏附、分布和长期存活在移植部位，否则 RPE 移植的治疗成功可能会受到限制。近年来，多种支架类型被用作 RPE 移植和 AMD 治疗的载体。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了支架的类型，包括天然或合成的、固体或水凝胶，以及它们在 RPE 替代中的结果。最终，我们的目标是强调新型和最佳的支架载体，这些载体可能具有潜在的促进 RPE 移植效果的作用。
