Applying Differentiated Retinal Cell for Age-Related Macular Degeneration Treatment

Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is one of the retinal degenerative diseases associated with some degree of dysfunction and loss of Retinal Pigmented Epithelium (RPE) cells and leads to permanent sight loss. Available treatments only slow down its progression. Applying a scaffold to help RPE cells proliferation and make layers has been proposed as a promising approach to treat this group of diseases. In this study, a fuzzy system was used to optimize the situation of making a scaffold. For better adhesion and proliferation of cells, the polycaprolactone scaffold's surface was modified by alkaline hydrolysis and plasma. Some analyses, such as water uptake and biodegradation rate, were done. Then, differentiated human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) were cultured on several groups of scaffolds. Finally, the viability, proliferation, and morphology of differentiated hESC-RPE cells on all groups of the scaffolds were investigated. The nanofibers' diameter was minimized by optimizing voltage and solution concentration with a fuzzy model for the first time, which obtained 110.5 nm, 18.9 kV, and 0.065 g/mL (w/v), respectively. The immersion time of the scaffold in alkaline solution and solution concentration during surface modification were achieved 4.3 M and 104 minutes, respectively, by response surface methodology. Results of the MTT assay showed that the hydrolyzed group had a high proliferation of cells. Scanning electron microscopy observation of cell morphology after 60 days confirmed this result. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that the hydrolyzed scaffold is a suitable bed for cell proliferation, a good option for AMD treatment.