Can be blinded by implant techniques

US and British scientists restored vision to blind mice by implanting photoreceptors into their retina. This breakthrough technique could lead to new treatments for human eye disease.

Photosensitive cells are implanted in the retina.(Photo: Nature.com)

This is the research result of experts at the Eye Institute, Institute of Child Health in London (UK) and Michigan Medical University (USA).

To conduct the experiment, they created congenital blind mice by gene mutation. They then took cells at the edge of the retina of normal mice and then in vitro so that they became the precursors of photoreceptors (at the end of the process of turning into photoreceptors).

When the mice were blind to adulthood, the scientists implanted in vitro cells into the retina of the blind mouse. The results showed that the transplanted cells developed into photoreceptors and mice could see them.

"The operation must be very fast and accurate so as not to affect the surrounding tissues ," said Dr. Robert MacLaren, an eye surgeon at the Moorfields Eye Hospital (UK).

Photosensitive cells are particularly sensitive cells to light, located in the retina. The disappearance of photoreceptors causes many eye diseases, such as macular degeneration. It is thought that the retina is unable to regenerate photoreceptors when they are destroyed.

Previously, many scientists have studied the ability to transplant stem cells - the type of cells that can grow into all kinds of cells in the body - into the retina in the hope that they will develop into photoreceptors. However, those works failed.

Dr. MacLaren's group carried out the study after finding that the cells located at the edge of the retina possess many of the same characteristics as stem cells. Therefore, they can be " programmed " to become precursors to photoreceptors.

Scientists believe that in the near future, transplantation of the photoreceptor form into the retina to cure blindness in humans will become a reality.

" The technique of implantation of photoreceptors in the form of photoreceptors helps us know how to restore the retina when it is damaged. In the future, we can even do it with other parts of the nervous system. central scripture , "said Professor Anand Swaroop, of the University of Michigan Medical School and a member of the research team.

Viet Linh