Researchers at University of Cambridge develop method of printing cells taken from eyes, raising hope for blindness cure.
Hindustan Times reports that the achievement could be the way forward in developing a cure for blindness by producing artificial tissue grafts from human retina using an inkjet printer; with researchers finding that an inkjet printer can be used to print two types of cells from the retina of adult rats – ganglion cells, which transmit information from the eye to parts of the brain, and glial cells, which provide support and protection to neurons.
The study was published in the Biofabrication journal, and asserts that results show printed cells remain healthy and were able to survive and grow.
Professor Keith Martin and Dr Barbara Lorber, co-authors of the study from the John van Geest Centre for Brain repair at the University of Cambridge, said: “The loss of nerve cells in the retina is a feature of many blinding eye diseases. The retina is an exquisitely organised structure where the precise arrangement of cells in relation to one another is critical for effective visual function.
“Our study has shown, for the first time, that cells derived from the mature central nervous system, the eye, can be printed using a piezoelectric inkjet printer. Although our results are preliminary and much more work is still required, the aim is to develop this technology for use in retinal repair in the future.”
The researchers used a piezoelectric inkjet printer that ejected cells through sub-millimetre diameter nozzles when a specific electrical pulse was applied, using high-speed video technology to record the printing process in high resolution to optimise their procedures. A number of tests were performed on each type of cell after they were printed to discover their ability to survive and grow.
“For a fluid to print well from an inkjet print head, its properties, such as viscosity and surface tension, need to conform to a fairly narrow range of values,” said Wen-Kai Hsiao, another member of the team based at the Inkjet Research Centre in Cambridge. “Adding cells to the fluid complicates its properties significantly.”