By Fiona Macrae<\/p>\n
Last updated at 1:55 AM on 8th March 2012 <\/p>\n
Important breakthrough: One in ten glaucoma sufferers go blind, due to late diagnosis, drugs not working or the disease being particularly severe (file picture) <\/p>\n
A treatment for one of the most common causes of blindness could soon be available.<\/p>\n
British researchers have used stem cells to heal the damage caused by glaucoma.<\/p>\n
The treatment has only been tested on rats, but scientists say it could be tested on humans by 2015 and in widespread use four years later.<\/p>\n
At present one in ten glaucoma sufferers go blind, due to late diagnosis, drugs not working or the disease being particularly severe.<\/p>\n
Researchers at University College London took healthy stem cells master cells capable of turning into other types of cell and widely seen as a repair kit for the body from human eyes.<\/p>\n
They used a cocktail of chemicals to turn them into retinal ganglion cells those that die in glaucoma. They then injected these into the eyes of rats with glaucoma-like damage.<\/p>\n
After just four weeks, the cells had connected with existing nerve cells, and the animals eyes worked 50 per cent better, the journal Stem Cells Translational Medicine reports. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Read more: By Fiona Macrae Last updated at 1:55 AM on 8th March 2012 Important breakthrough: One in ten glaucoma sufferers go blind, due to late diagnosis, drugs not working or the disease being particularly severe (file picture) A treatment for one of the most common causes of blindness could soon be available. Continue reading
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