Repair and regeneration of neural tissue using cells derived from umbilical cord postpartum

A homogeneous population of cells derived from tissue cord, for use in treating a degenerative eye condition, wherein said population can be obtained by enzymatic digestion of tissue free umbilical cord blood using enzymatic activities matrix metalloproteases, neural proteases and mucolytic enzymes, and where this cell population is capable of self - renewal and expansion in culture, has the potential to differentiate into cells of other phenotypes, and when the population of cells: (a) produce each of CD10 , CD13, CD44, CD73, CD90, PDGFr-alpha and HLA-A, B, C, detected by flow cytometry; and (b) produce no CD31, CD34, CD45, CD117, CD141 and HLA-DR, DP, DQ, as detected by flow cytometry.