Preface: Sight Restoration Through Stem Cell Therapy.

This publication presents chapters based on a meeting entitled "Sight Restoration Through Stem Cell Therapy" held on June 13, 2015, in Santa Monica, CA, sponsored by the Ocular Research Symposia Foundation (ORSF). It was chaired by Michael Young, PhD, Harvard Medical School, and Gerald Chader, PhD, University of Southern California. The mission of this publication and of the ORSF in general is to focus attention on unmet medical needs and current research opportunities in eye research with the objective of accelerating translation of research findings to effective clinical care.

An Innovative Surgical Technique for Subretinal Transplantation of Human Embryonic Stem Cell-Derived Retinal Pigmented Epithelium in Yucatan Mini Pigs: Preliminary Results.

Background And Objective: To develop a safe and efficient surgical procedure for subretinal implantation into porcine eyes of a human embryonic stem cell-derived retinal pigmented epithelium (hESC-RPE) monolayer seeded onto a Parylene-C scaffold. This implant is referred to as CPCB-RPE1.

Materials And Methods: Ultrathin Parylene-C scaffolds were seeded with hESC-RPE and surgically implanted into the subretinal space of Yucatan mini pigs (n = 8).

Stem cell based therapies for age-related macular degeneration: The promises and the challenges.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness among the elderly in developed countries. AMD is classified as either neovascular (NV-AMD) or non-neovascular (NNV-AMD). Cumulative damage to the retinal pigment epithelium, Bruch's membrane, and choriocapillaris leads to dysfunction and loss of RPE cells.

Preface: The aging eye: normal changes, age-related diseases, and sight-saving approaches.

This volume presents articles based on a workshop held June 14 to 16, 2013 in Rancho Palos Verde, CA sponsored by the Ocular Research Symposia Foundation (ORSF). The mission of the ORSF is to focus attention on unmet needs and current research opportunities in eye research with the objective of accelerating translation of research findings to effective clinical care. In this workshop, the subject of the "The Aging Eye" was addressed, including the prevalence of eye diseases in aging and the economic burden imposed by these diseases.

Screening of a large cohort of leber congenital amaurosis and retinitis pigmentosa patients identifies novel LCA5 mutations and new genotype-phenotype correlations.

This study was undertaken to investigate the prevalence of sequence variants in LCA5 in patients with Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), early-onset retinal dystrophy (EORD), and autosomal recessive retinitis pigmentosa (arRP); to delineate the ocular phenotypes; and to provide an overview of all published LCA5 variants in an online database. Patients underwent standard ophthalmic evaluations after providing informed consent. In selected patients, optical coherence tomography (OCT) and fundus autofluorescence imaging were possible.

In vivo detection of hESC-RPE cells via confocal near-infrared fundus reflectance.

Background And Objective: To investigate whether the confocal near-infrared reflectance (NIR) imaging modality could detect the in vivo presence of retinal pigment epithelium cells derived from embryonic human stem cells (hESC-RPE) implanted into the subretinal space of the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) rat.

Materials And Methods: Monthly NIR images were obtained from RCS rats implanted with either hESC-RPE seeded on a parylene membrane (n = 14) or parylene membrane without cells (n = 14). Two independent, masked investigators graded the images.

Subretinal implantation of retinal pigment epithelial cells derived from human embryonic stem cells: improved survival when implanted as a monolayer.

Purpose: To evaluate cell survival and tumorigenicity of human embryonic stem cell-derived retinal pigment epithelium (hESC-RPE) transplantation in immunocompromised nude rats. Cells were transplanted as a cell suspension (CS) or as a polarized monolayer plated on a parylene membrane (PM).

Methods: Sixty-nine rats (38 male, 31 female) were surgically implanted with CS (n = 33) or PM (n = 36).

High-resolution OCT: an innovative tool for posterior segment imaging.

Optimal management of posterior segment disorders requires a high-resolution and preferably noninvasive imaging tool for better definition of diseases. High-resolution optical coherence tomography can provide noninvasive, high-definition imaging of the posterior segment, allowing earlier diagnosis, better follow-up of chronic cases, and more accurate and timely monitoring of the effect of therapeutic agents. Recent findings suggest an individualized approach to vitreoretinal and choroidal diseases is possible based not only on traditional ophthalmic investigations, but also on high-resolution optical coherence tomography.

Acute variations in retinal vascular oxygen content in a rabbit model of retinal venous occlusion.

Purpose: To study the variation in intravascular oxygen saturation (oximetry) during an acute retinal vein occlusion (RVO) using hyperspectral computed tomographic spectroscopy based oximetry measurements.

Methods: Thirty rabbits were dilated and anesthetized for experiments. Baseline oximetry measurements were made using a custom-made hyperspectral computed tomographic imaging spectrometer coupled to a fundus camera.

Evaluation of ultrasound-assisted thrombolysis using custom liposomes in a model of retinal vein occlusion.

Purpose: To study the potential efficacy of ultrasound (US) assisted by custom liposome (CLP) destruction as an innovative thrombolytic tool for the treatment of retinal vein occlusion (RVO).

Methods: Experimental RVO was induced in the right eyes of 40 rabbits using laser photothrombosis; the US experiment took place 48 hours later. Rabbits were randomly divided into four equal groups: US+CLP group, US+saline group, CLP+sham US group, and no treatment group.

Fluorescein angiography, optical coherence tomography, and histopathologic findings in a VEGF(165) animal model of retinal angiogenesis.

Background: To establish an animal model of retinal neovascularization using vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF165) and analyze the model using optical coherence tomography (OCT), fluorescein angiography (FA), and histopathologic evaluation.

Methods: Twelve rabbits were divided into groups as follows: group 1 (n = 3), sham intravitreous injections of 0.1 ml of balanced saline; group 2 (n = 6), one 10-μg intravitreal injection of VEGF165 on day 0; and group 3 (n = 3), two 10-μg intravitreal injections of VEGF165, one on day 0 and one on day 7.

Morphometric analysis of optic nerves and retina from an end-stage retinitis pigmentosa patient with an implanted active epiretinal array.

Purpose: To characterize optic nerve and retinal changes in a patient with end-stage retinitis pigmentosa (RP) with an implanted active epiretinal array.

Methods: A 74-year-old man with end-stage X-linked RP underwent implantation of an epiretinal array over the macula in the right eye and subsequent stimulation until his death at 5 years and 3 months after implantation. The optic nerves from this study patient, as well as those from two age-matched normal patients and two age-matched RP patients, were morphometrically analyzed against two different sets of criteria and compared.

Vitreal oxygenation in retinal ischemia reperfusion.

Purpose: To study the feasibility of anterior vitreal oxygenation for the treatment of acute retinal ischemia.

Methods: Twenty rabbits were randomized into an oxygenation group, a sham treatment group, and a no treatment group. Baseline electroretinography (ERG) and preretinal oxygen (Po(2)) measurements were obtained 3 to 5 days before surgery.

Artificial vision: needs, functioning, and testing of a retinal electronic prosthesis.

Hundreds of thousands around the world have poor vision or no vision at all due to inherited retinal degenerations (RDs) like retinitis pigmentosa (RP). Similarly, millions suffer from vision loss due to age-related macular degeneration (AMD). In both of these allied diseases, the primary target for pathology is the retinal photoreceptor cells that dysfunction and die.

Effect of multiple injections of small divided doses vs single injection of intravitreal bevacizumab on retinal neovascular model in rabbits.

Background: To compare effects of multiple injections of small divided doses of intravitreal bevacizumab vs a single injection using a retinal neovascular model in rabbits.

Methods: We assigned 12 pigmented rabbits to four groups of three each. All groups received an intravitreal injection of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF, 10 microg) on the first day.

Natural course of experimental retinal vein occlusion in rabbit; arterial occlusion following venous photothrombosis.

Background: Retinal vein occlusion (RVO) is the second leading cause of vascular eye disease. Currently there is no definite treatment for this condition. Animal models could be potentially helpful in developing new treatments; however, it is essential to understand the differences these models may have with human RVO.

Intravitreal and subretinal injection of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) in the treatment of experimentally created retinal vein occlusion in rabbits.

Purpose: To evaluate the effectiveness of intravitreal or subretinal injection of tPA in the treatment of experimentally created retinal vein occlusion (RVO) in rabbits.

Methods: Fifteen rabbits were included in this study. RVO was created in all using an argon green laser following intravenous injection of rose Bengal.

The effects of intravitreous bevacizumab on retinal neovascular membrane and normal capillaries in rabbits.

Purpose: To evaluate the effects of intravitreous bevacizumab in a rabbit retinal neovascularization model.

Methods: Twenty-four rabbits were divided into five groups. Group A included four rabbits; all other groups included five rabbits each.