Stem cell image of the week: The demise of Three Blind Mice nursery rhyme (Todd Dubnicoff)
Our stem cell image of the week may mark the beginning of the end of the Three Blind Mice nursery rhyme and, more importantly, usher in a new treatment strategy for people suffering from vision loss. That’s because researchers from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York report in Nature the ability to reprogram support cells in the eyes of blind mice to become photoreceptors, the light-sensing cells that enable sight. The image is an artistic rendering of the study results by team led Dr. Bo Chen, PhD.

An artist’s rendering incorporates the images of the Müller glia-derived rod photoreceptors. Image credit: Bo Chen, Ph.D.

The initial inspiration for this project came from an observation in zebrafish. These creatures have the remarkable ability to restore vision after severe eye injuries. It turns out that, in response to injury, a type of cell in the eye called Muller glia – which helps maintain the structure and function of the zebrafish retina – transforms into rod photoreceptors, which allow vision in low light.

Now, Muller glia are found in humans and mice too, so the research team sought to harness this shape-shifting, sight-restoring ability of the Muller glia but in the absence of injury. They first injected a gene into the eyes of mice born blind that stimulated the glia cells to divide and grow. Then, to mimic the reprogramming process seen in zebrafish, specific factors were injected to cause the glia to change identity into photoreceptors.

The researchers showed that the glia-derived photoreceptors functioned just like those observed in normal mice and made the right connections with nerve cells responsible for sending visual information to the brain. The team’s next steps are to not only show the cells are functioning properly in the eye and brain but to also do behavioral studies to confirm that the mice can do tasks that require vision.

If these studies pan out, it could lead to a new therapeutic strategy for blinding diseases like retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration. Rather than transplanting replacement cells, this treatment approach would spur our own eyes to repair themselves. In the meantime, CIRM-funded researchers have studies currently in clinical trials testing stem cell-based treatments for retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration.

A tale of two tails: one regenerates, the other, not quite so much (Kevin McCormack) One of the wonders of nature, well two if you want to be specific, is how both salamanders and lizards are able to regrow their tails if they lose them. But there is a difference. While salamanders can regrow a tail that is almost identical to the original, lizard’s replacements are rather less impressive. Now researchers have found out why.

In these fluorescence microscopy images, cross sections of original lizard and salamander tails (left) show cartilage (green) and nerve cells (red). In the regenerated tails (right), the lizard’s is made up mostly of cartilage, while the salamander also has developed new nerve cells. Image: Thomas Lozito

The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows how a lizard’s new tail doesn’t have bone but instead has cartilage, and also lacks nerve cells. The key apparently is the stem cells both use to regenerate the tail. Salamanders use neural stem cells from their spinal cord and turn them into other types of nervous system cell, such as neurons. Lizards neural stem cells are not able to do this.

The researchers, from the University of Pittsburgh, tested their findings by placing neural stem cells from the axolotl salamander into tail stumps from geckos. They noted that, as those tails regrew, some of those transplanted cells turned into neurons.

In an interview in Science News, study co-author Thomas Lozito says the team hope to take those findings and, using the CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing tool, see if they can regenerate body parts in other animals:

 “My goal is to make the first mouse that can regenerate its tail. We’re kind of using lizards as a stepping-stone.”