The present invention is directed to an adult retinal cell line isolated from extra-retinal ocular tissue, and methods of isolating adult retinal cells from extra-retinal ocular tissue. The present invention is further directed to adult retinal stem cells isolated from vestigial tissue dissected from the eye of a donor mammal suffering from persistent fetal vasculature. The present invention is further directed to a culture medium for growing or maintaining retinal stem cells, and methods of maintaining adult retinal cells in culture. The present invention is further directed to methods of treating a treating an eye with retinal dystrophy using retinal stem cells, and an eye with glaucomatous injury with retinal stem cells. The present invention is further directed to kits for harvesting extra-retinal ocular tissue comprising a sterile container and a harvesting solution, wherein the kit allows the survival of the tissue until later dissociation of cells from the tissue.
