Experimental treatments restore partial vision to blind people

The new studies tested both people and animals with two degenerative eye diseases: retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration. These diseases destroy the light-sensitive nerve cells in the retina, leading to blindness. In all, vision loss and eye disease affect 3.6 million Americans and cost the United States $68 billion each year.

Research released today shows that:

• A retinal prosthesis restores partial vision to people who are totally blind. The prosthesis, made of an array of electrodes, transmits visual information captured by a video camera (Jessy Dorn, PhD, abstract 216.6).
  
• Transplanted "sheets" of fetal retinal cells improve visual acuity in several people with retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration (Robert B. Aramant, PhD, abstract 837.12).
  
• Engineered, light-sensitive proteins restore vision in a mouse study of retinitis pigmentosa. The findings could lead to new treatments for people with degenerative retinal diseases (Natalia Caporale, PhD, abstract 806.10).
  
• As researchers strive to develop stem cell therapies for eye disease, a new method increases the yield of retinal cells from human stem cells derived from both embryonic and adult tissue (Jason S. Meyer, PhD, abstract 113.1).

"Basic neuroscience research has formed the basis for significant progress in treating eye disease," said press conference moderator Rachel O. L. Wong, PhD, of the University of Washington, an expert on visual system development. "These studies would not be possible without technological advances and basic science research that continues to explain the normal function and development of the visual system," Wong said.

Source: Society for Neuroscience (news : web)