Retinal ganglion cell repopulation for vision restoration in optic neuropathy: a roadmap from the RReSTORe Consortium.

🤖 Plain-English Summary

Retinal ganglion cell (RGC) death in glaucoma and other optic neuropathies results in irreversible vision loss due to the mammalian central nervous system's limited regenerative capacity. Using these five subtopic discussion groups (SDGs) as a framework, we suggest multidisciplinary approaches to restore the diseased visual pathway by leveraging groundbreaking insights from developmental neuroscience, stem cell biology, molecular biology, optical imaging, animal models of optic neuropathy, immun...

🔑 Key Findings

• RGC repopulation is a promising therapeutic approach to reverse vision loss from optic neuropathies if the newly introduced neurons can reestablish functional retinal and thalamic circuits.
• In theory, RGCs might be repopulated through the transplantation of stem cell-derived neurons or via the induction of endogenous transdifferentiation.
• The RGC Repopulation, Stem Cell Transplantation, and Optic Nerve Regeneration (RReSTORe) Consortium was established to address the challenges associated with the therapeutic repair of the visual pathway in optic neuropathy.

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