Dexamethasone Provides Effective Immunosuppression for Improved Survival of Retinal Organoids after Epiretinal Transplantation

Figure 5

Changes in the retinal organoid after transplantation. In the healthy eye (transplanted with a retinal organoid, but receiving no immunosuppressive treatment), the transplanted retinal organoid sheet was clearly seen in the fundus photo. (A) In the early post-transplantation stage (2 weeks), the sheet was white. (B, C) The green fluorescence in retinal organoid cells became more apparent at 5 and 8 weeks. Furthermore, the growth of cells in the retinal organoid was also apparent over a span of 1 week. (a–c) Optical coherence tomography (OCT) scanning showed that the organoid could be detected as a moderately reflective tissue above the host retina; OCT scanning also showed the growth of the organoid tissue. (a A) Slight vitreous opacity was observed in the first 2 weeks after transplantation, but (b B, c C) the vitreous body soon became clear and remained so until the end of 8 weeks post-transplantation. (d D–f F) In the eye with ocular hypertension (OHT) transplanted with a retinal organoid and treated with dexamethasone (Oz-eye), the retinal organoid sheet was clearly visible and only slight vitreous opacity was observed in the first 2 weeks after transplantation. (g) In the OHT eye transplanted with a retinal organoid and treated with rapamycin (RAP-eye), the moderately reflective retinal organoid was only visible in the first two weeks post-transplantation (straight arrow), and highly reflective filaments were visible (arrowheads). The transplantation area only contained a patch of highly reflective tissue ((h), straight arrow) at 4 weeks. (g G–i I) The RAP-eye also exhibited intermediate levels of vitreous opacity 2, 5, and 8 weeks after transplantation. In the OHT-eye, which was transplanted with a retinal organoid but received no immunosuppressive treatment, severe vitreous opacity was observed and no fundus photos or OCT scans were carried out until week 8 post-transplantation. (j) At week 8 post-transplantation, OCT scanning of the OHT-eye indicated the presence of highly reflective tissue at the transplantation site, and (J) a pale image of the organoid was visible in the fundus photo.