human fetal retinal tissue

Human fetal retinal tissue consists of the developing neural retina harvested from human fetuses, typically during the second trimester (11–17.5 weeks of gestation). In regenerative medicine, it is explored as a transplantable material, either as intact sheets or dissociated progenitor cells, designed to be placed into the subretinal space to replace lost neurons in patients with retinal degenerative diseases like retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration. Beyond its therapeutic potential, it serves as a critical research tool when xenografted into immunodeficient animals (e.g., SCID mice or athymic rats). These xenograft models provide a human-specific environment that supports the replication of viruses such as Human Cytomegalovirus (HCMV) and HIV-1, which do not naturally infect non-human cells, thereby allowing for the in vivo evaluation of novel antiviral drugs.

Other names

human fetal neural retinafetal retinal transplanthuman retinal xenografthuman fetal retinal sheetsfetal retinal tissue