Abstract:Retinal ganglion cells are crucial in the formation of vision. Injury or death of retinal ganglion cells may lead to irreversibly damage of visual function. Glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, hypertension, and other blind leading diseases can cause the damage or progressively apoptosis of retinal ganglion cells. Currently, there is no specific treatment to restore vision damage caused by those diseases. Scholars at home and abroad focus on stem cells transplantation in order to recover the visual function of patients. Two categories are mainly involved in stem cell transplantation, one is the replacement therapy based on stem cells, the other is to promote the secretion of some factors to protect ganglion cells through stem cell transplantation. In this review, we aim to summarize the potential of stems cell transplantation to treat retinal ganglion cells related diseases, and discuss the differentiation of different types of stem cells to retinal ganglion cells.
