Researchers at the University of Washington have discovered a way to activate retinal cells in mice to turn into new neurons.
This discovery could potentially lead to new a new treatment for human eyes that have suffered from trauma or disease.
A viral gene-swapping technique was used in the study. A version of a particular gene was combined with other drugs and injected into the mice. The contents created neurons which then integrated into the retina and became functional without any additional help.
Unfortunately, this special recipe could not produce neurons to help treat eyes affected by glaucoma or macular degeneration, but researchers will continue to work on developing new recipes for those eye conditions while perfecting the current recipe.
Doctor-formulated AREDS 2 for Macular Degeneration