Cord Blood Serum Drops Might Decrease Macular Degeneration and other Neurodegenerative Processes

Cord blood serum drops decrease retinal degeneration in albino rat retinas. While this does not translate to humans yet, it is hopeful. The article is an excellent review of why CBS would work to help all forms of cellular degeneration. 

Cord blood serum can be obtained from consenting mothers after baby and placenta are delivered. 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7277721/pdf/biomolecules-10-00678.pdf

Clinical Trial

 

. 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 

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.