Scientists may be closing in on a remedy for a common degenerative condition of the retina called retinitis pigmentosa. In mice that develop the disease, stem cells -- “master” cells that can become many different kinds of tissue -- injected into the eye prevented degeneration of blood vessels in the retina, a California research team reports. As a result, some vision was preserved. Ultimately, it may be possible give people stem cells taken from their own bone marrow “and delay retinal degeneration with concomitant loss of vision,” Dr. Martin Friedlander and colleagues suggest in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
