Current Research Interests/Projects:
The Ocular Cell Transplantation Laboratory (OCTL) is dedicated to the development of treatments for retinal eye diseases by cell transplantation and wound healing.

Cell transplantation and wound healing techniques are currently being developed to treat patients with the exudative form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) which is characterized by the growth of abnormal blood vessels under the retina and subsequent scarring. Surgical removal of the blood vessel/scar complex, called a choroidal neovascular membrane (CNV), also results in removal of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). RPE are very important to the survival of the photoreceptors, the light sensing neurons of the retina. If RPE cells were transplanted into the dissection bed after CNV removal or if native RPE from the edge of the dissection bed could be encouraged to grow in, the patient might have better visual recovery. We use cadaver human eyes to conduct experiments on the early attachment of transplanted RPE cells on a surface similar to the bed that will be present after CNV removal. In addition, cadaver eyes are used to study ingrowth of RPE following mechanical creation of a defect in the RPE monolayer. OCTL is also developing transplantation techniques and studying cell survival in an animal model.

The OCTL is also conducting studies on photoreceptor (PR) transplantation. Photoreceptor transplantation may be clinically useful in patients with "photoreceptor blindness" due to diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa, retinal detachment, and macular degeneration in which photoreceptor cell death is the principal cause of blindness. We have developed techniques to obtain photoreceptor sheets which can be transplanted under the retina while maintaining orientation of the photoreceptors and protecting it from damage during the transplantation procedure. In addition, we are studying plastic changes in photoreceptor cell terminals prior to transplantation.

Representative Publications:

I. Tsukahara, S. Ninomiya, A. Castellarin, F. Yagi, I.K. Sugino, M.A. Zarbin. Early attachment of uncultured retinal pigment epithelium from aged donors onto Bruch's membrane explants. Exp Eye Res (In press).

H. Wang, D.S. Leonard, A.A. Castellarin, I. Tsukahara, Y. Ninomiya, F. Yagi, I.K. Sugino, M.A. Zarbin. Short term study of allogeneic retinal pigment epithelium transplants onto debrided Bruch's membrane. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 2001; 42(12): 2990 2999.

G.Y. Fujii, E. DeJuan, Jr., M.A. Zarbin, M.S. Humayun, S. Phillips. Unintentional transplantation of autologous retinal pigment epithelium during limited macular translocation. Retina 2001; 21(4):380-381.

M.A. Khodair, M.A. Zarbin, I.K. Sugino, E. Townes-Anderson. cAMP prevents photoreceptor terminal refraction in full-thickness retinae and vibratomed retinal sheets prepared for transplantation. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci (Suppl) 2001; 42(4):S782.

Y. Ninomiya, I.K. Sugino, M.A. Zarbin. Effect of human retinal epithelium basement membrane on the ability of human retinal pigment epithelium to repopulate a wound area. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci (Suppl) 2001; 42(4):S812.

J.C. Huang, M.J. Voadem, M.A. Zarbin. J. Marshall. Morphological preservation and variability of human donor retina. Curr. Eye Res. 2000; 20(3):231-241.

M.A. Khodair, M.A. Zarbin, I.K. Sugino, E. Townes Anderson. Axonal plasticity in retinal photoreceptor (PR) cell sheets prepared for transplantation. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci (Suppl) 2000; 41(4):S854.
M.A. Zarbin, I.K. Sugino, A. Castellarin. RPE transplantation. In: Age-related Macular Degeneration. S. Fine, J. Berger, M. Maguire, eds., Mosby Inc, Philadelphia PA , 1999, pp. 363-382.
J.C. Huang, M. Ishida, P. Hersh, I.K. Sugino, M.A. Zarbin. Preparation and transplantation of photoreceptor sheets. Curr. Eye Res. 17:573-585, 1998.