By: Dan Robitzski_
July 12, 2019
Thanks to a new gene therapy targeting specific cells in the eye, blind mice have regained the ability to see.
A team of neuroscientists developed a treatment that re-activated the Cngb1 gene, which when disabled causes light-detecting rod cells found in the retina to deteriorate, according to research recently published in the journal JNeurosci.
The recovered rod cells not only regained the ability to react to light, but also formed normal-looking connections with the nerves that connect the eye to the brain, according to Interesting Engineering — a finding that demonstrates that the retina is far more plastic than scientists thought.