Cord blood serum (CBS) may be neuroprotective in retinal disease, such as ARMD Age Related Macular Degeneration

New study show cord blood serum (CBS), which is full of chemokines and trophic factors, could show neuroprotection in cases of retinal degeneration. 

Could this lead to a new line of neuroprotection drops for glaucoma and macular degeneration?

More studies are needed but CBS holds a great deal of promise  

 Clinical Trial

  

Biomolecules 

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. 2020 Apr 28;10(5):678.

 doi: 10.3390/biom10050678.

Cord Blood Serum (CBS)-Based Eye Drops Modulate Light-Induced Neurodegeneration in Albino Rat Retinas

Stefano Di Marco 1 2 3 4, Serena Riccitelli 1, Mattia Di Paolo 1, Emilio Campos 5, Marina Buzzi 6, Silvia Bisti 1 2 7, Piera Versura 5

Affiliations  collapse

Affiliations

·        1Department of Applied Clinical Science and Biotechnology, University of L'Aquila, Via Vetoio, Coppito II, 67100 L'Aquila, Italy.

·        2Istituto Nazionale di Biostrutture e Biosistemi (INBB), Via Medaglie d'Oro 305, 00136 Roma, Italy.

·        3Center for Synaptic Neuroscience and Technology, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Largo Rosanna Benzi, 16132 Genova, Italy.

·        4IRCCS, Ospedale Policlinico San Martino, Largo Rosanna Benzi, 16132 Genova, Italy.

·        5Ophthalmology Unit, University of Bologna and S. Orsola-Malpighi Teaching Hospital, 40138 Bologna, Italy.

·        6Emilia Romagna, Cord Blood Bank-Transfusion Service, S. Orsola-Malpighi Teaching Hospital, 40138 Bologna, Italy.

·        7NetS3 Laboratory, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Via Morego, 30, 16163 Genova, Italy.

·        PMID: 32354031

  

·        PMCID: PMC7277721

  

·        DOI: 10.3390/biom10050678

Free PMC article

Abstract

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is one of the leading causes of visual loss in western countries, it has no cure, and its incidence will grow in the future, for the overall population aging. Albino rats with retinal degeneration induced by exposure to high-intensity light (light-damage, LD) have been extensively used as a model of AMD to test neuroprotective agents. Among them, trophic factors (NGF and BDNF) have been shown to play a significant role in photoreceptors' survival. Interestingly, cord blood serum (CBS) is an extract full of chemokines and trophic factors; we, therefore, hypothesized that CBS could be an excellent candidate for neuroprotection. Here, we investigate whether CBS-based eye drops might mitigate the effects of light-induced retinal degeneration in albino rats. CBS treatment significantly preserved flash-electroretinogram (f-ERG) response after LD and reduced the "hot-spot" extension. Besides, CBS-treated animals better preserved the morphology of the outer nuclear layer, together with a reduction in microglia migration and activation. Interestingly, the treatment did not modulate reactive gliosis and activation of the self-protective mechanism (FGF2). In conclusion, our results suggest that CBS-based eye drops might be successfully used to mitigate retinal neurodegenerative processes such as AMD.