Retinal pigment epithelial cell transplantation into aging retina: a possible approach to delay age-related cell death.

Retinal pigment epithelial cells (RPE) from young, healthy rats were transplanted into older rat eyes to test whether aging changes could be delayed or arrested in an appropriate model. The Fischer-344 rat, a model for studying age-related photo-receptor cell death, was used as the recipient, and the Long Evans rat (6- to 8-day-old) was used as the donor of young RPE. Morphometric analyses at 3 and 6 months after RPE transplantation demonstrated a significant delay in age-related cell death in the outer and inner nuclear layers and in the outer and inner plexiform layers, as compared with the findings in controls. These results indicated the beneficial effects of RPE transplantation into the aging eye.