Bioprinting Is Being Used to Create Eye Tissues

When it comes to the body, the parts relating to the fives senses are undoubtedly some of the most important. Eyesight, hearing, taste, touch and smell allow humans and other creatures to explore the universe around them and the sudden loss of one or more can be devastating. And one of those that is often affected is sight. From aging to diseases, many different factors can cause visual impairment with up to 14 million suffering from poor vision in the US alone. However, the diseases can be hard to correct and even harder to cure, especially considering the difficulties in procuring samples for testing. But what can we do to combat this?

Researchers at the National Eye Institute (NEI), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) which is the primary federal agency of the US government for conducting and supporting medical research, have turned to bioprinting in order to create eye tissues. These will be used to advance understanding of blinding diseases, particularly degenerative retinal diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Though of course not the first time that 3D printing has been used in the treatment of eyes, two previous examples are the creation of a 3D printed eye prosthetic or the 3D printed cornea from the University of Newcastle, it shows the continued versatility of the technology for a variety of applications in the medical field, especially for research purposes.

A diagram of the blood-retina barrier in the eye (photo credits: National Eye Institute)

Bioprinting Aids Research of AMD and Other Eye Diseases

Age-related macular degeneration is a common condition affecting people in their 50s and 60s. Though it does not always make patients fully blind, it essentially involves the loss of the central vision that is necessary to see details straight ahead causing blurriness and wavy areas. It is the leading cause of vision loss for older adults and nearly 20 million people in the US have some form of age-related macular degeneration, with its prevalence increasing with age. There are two forms of AMD, dry (atrophic AMD) and wet (advanced neovascular AMD) with various treatment options depending on the severity of the case. But the causes can be difficult to understand, especially the progression to advanced stages.