New study gives hope to blind people

A new technology successfully restored sight in mice, giving hope to people with blindness caused by eye injuries and disease.

Led by Andrew Huberman, the scientists from Stanford University, used a combination of gene and visual stimulation therapies in 100 mice, rendering some of them functionally blind before reinstating their vision by injecting a virus in their eyes.

They treated the mice either through molecular reactivation or exposing them to high-contrast visual stimulation, recording a 500-fold increase in the distance and speed that the retinal swelling cell axons grew.

Titled: ‘Neural activity promotes long distance, target-specific regeneration of adult retinal axons,’ the findings of the study published in Nature Neuroscience Study was optimistic that the findings could be adopted to treat patients, where the cause of blindness is in the connection between the eye and the brain.

This technology could be used to restore sight for blindness caused by glaucoma, which causes damage to the optic nerve, through increased pressure from fluid in the eye or impaired blood flow to the optic nerve. Given the promising results, Dr Huberman was optimistic that the technology can be used in humans in   five years.