Printed eye cells could help 'cure blindness'

New eye cells that could help treat people suffering from sight loss have been successfully printed. Scientists have developed inkjet printing technology that has managed to print for the first time cells that have been taken from an eye.

The study, which has been published in the journal 'Biofabrication', details the way in which artificial drafts made up of cells taken from the retina of a human eye could help to restore sight. According to the researchers from Cambridge University, the discovery could lead to grow-your-own therapies for individuals whose sight is affected by damage to the retina. 

Currently the printing has only been done using cells from animal eyes and more work will have to be done on the procedure before human trials can take place. The researchers have shown that an inkjet printer can print two different types of cells. Both the ganglion cells and glial cells from the retina of an adult rat have successfully been produced using the printing technology. The produced cells were able to grow in a culture and remained healthy.

Professor Keith Martin and Dr Barbara Lorber, co-authors of the study from the John van Geest Centre for Brain 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."

The researchers aim to develop the technology so it can be used in the future to perform retinal repair. They will now begin attempting to print other cell types from the retina, including light-sensitive photoreceptors. 

A piezoelectric inkjet printer device was used in the study, which ejected the cells through a sub-millimetre diameter nozzle upon the application of a certain electrical pulse. The process was captured on high-speed video.