Hi all, hope all are doing fine pasting below article, which get from another list. Regards Wahid
---------- Forwarded message ---------- Photoreceptor transplant restores vision in blind mice Posted by: Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity 18th April, 2012 GOSHCC Professor of Developmental Biology and Genetics, Jane Sowden, is part of a research team who have shown for the first time that transplanting light-sensitive photoreceptors into the eyes of visually impaired mice can restore their vision. She hopes this exciting development will pave the way for similar approaches in humans, and clinical trials of new therapies to treat degenerative and inherited retinal diseases that cause a third of cases of childhood blindness. Transplanting photoreceptors The research, led by Professor Robin Ali and a joint team at the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and the UCL Institute of Child Health (ICH) (and published in Nature) suggests that transplanting photoreceptors - the light-sensitive nerve cells that line the back of the eye - could form the basis of a new treatment to restore sight in people with degenerative eye diseases. "The type of blindness we've been researching is common," says Professor Jane Sowden, who heads up the ICH team: "Retinal diseases that cause the loss of photoreceptor cells are one of the major causes of untreatable blindness, which include inherited retinal diseases that affect around 1 in 3000 people, and are responsible for around the third of cases of childhood blindness." "We have been aiming to develop new therapies for retinal diseases which would involve transplanting new photoreceptor cells to replace those that are lost through disease. Over the last decade we've been developing ways to transplant photoreceptor cells into the retina. " Remarkable tests "In this new study we've been able to show that by transplanting photoreceptors into the retina of mice who are born with a form of blindness that the new cells are able to make connections that are functional." Not only this, but after four to six weeks, the transplanted cells appeared to be functioning almost as well as normal photoreceptor cells. They had also formed the vital connections needed to transmit visual information to other cells in the retina, and onwards to the brain. Jane continues: "We performed a number of different tests, but one of the most remarkable was the fact that the treated animals were able to navigate their way through a maze, whereas the untreated animals were not, demonstrating that the cells were functioning. So the treated animals were using this visual information to modify their behaviour." Promise for the future She thinks this shows exciting promise for future research and potential treatments: "What we've shown for the first time is that the transplantation of new photoreceptor cells can restore vision. What we hope is that it will be possible to develop similar approaches for the treatment of human blindness. There are many steps we need to undertake before we're in a position to do that, but based on the similarities between the mouse and the human retina we think that this may be a future treatment for currently untreatable retinal disease." You can view the full Nature paper here. The research was funded by the Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust, the Royal Society, the British Retinitis Pigmentosa Society, Alcon Research Institute and The Miller's Trust. Professor Jane Sowden is funded by Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity. watch video clip: Photoreceptor transplant restores vision in mice - Jane Sowden GOSHCC Professor http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5Nn7eLFE0w&feature=player_embedded Uploaded by GOSHCharity on Apr 18, 2012 GOSHCC Professor of Developmental Biology and Genetics, Jane Sowden, is part of a research team who have shown for the first time that transplanting light-sensitive photoreceptors into the eyes of visually impaired mice can restore their vision. She hopes this exciting development will pave the way for similar approaches in humans, and clinical trials of new therapies to treat degenerative and inherited retinal diseases that cause a third of cases of childhood blindness. ------ Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
