Progress in Stem Cell Research and Applications to Neuro-Ophthalmology

The irreversible nature of visual loss from virtually all optic nerve and retinal diseases results from loss of retinal neurons. For example, retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) are lost in optic neuropathies, photoreceptors are lost in inherited retinal degenerations, bipolar cells in melanoma-associated retinopathy, and RGCs, amacrine cells, and predominantly other inner retinal neurons in retinal arterial ischemia. Because neurons do not divide and differentiate in vivo to replace those cells lost due to disease, visual loss from optic nerve and retinal disease is usually permanent.