Establishing a Surgical Procedure for Rhesus Epiretinal Scaffold Implantation with HiPSC-Derived Retinal Progenitors

Figure 1

Comparison between the two PLGA scaffold delivery methods. (a) Surgical procedures with the two different delivery methods. After gas-liquid exchange, cellular scaffolds were delivered either by retinal forceps or 18G catheter. (b) Three-dimensional retinal tissue cultured in suspension (scale bar = 200 μm). (c) The degradable PLGA scaffold in a dish. The size of scaffold is 2 mm  4–8 mm, and one corner was cut to label the cellular side. (d) Scanning electron micrographs of the nanofibers in the PLGA scaffold, which was prepared by electrospinning. (e) Retinal tissue with progenitors was seeded and cultured onto the PLGA scaffold in dish. A few days later, the progenitors migrated and spread out from tissue and were directed towards an RGC fate. (f) Cellular PLGA scaffold delivery by retinal forceps. The scaffold was rolled up edge to edge to wrap and protect the retinal progenitors from scraping during delivering. (g) The half-loaded PLGA scaffold in an 18G catheter. After retracting the core, the scaffold was rolled up and loaded into the catheter. (h) DAPI staining of the cellular scaffold delivered by retinal forceps showed that the retinal tissue was obviously damaged. (i) DAPI staining of the cellular scaffold delivered by 18G catheter demonstrated retinal tissue with intact 3D structure. The dashed circle demonstrates the differentiating and migrating progenitors on surface of scaffold. (j) Comparison of the cell survival rates between the two delivery methods ().

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