Regrowing damaged inner retina nerve cells
Researchers at the University of Washington (UW) have reported for the first time that mammals can be stimulated to regrow inner nerve cells in their damaged retinas. Located in the back of the eye, the retina’s role in vision is to convert light into nerve impulses to the brain.
The findings on retina self-repair in mammals will be published this week in the early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Other scientists have shown before that certain retina nerve cells from mice can proliferate in a laboratory dish. Today’s report gives evidence that retina cells can be encouraged to regenerate in living mice.
The UW researchers in the laboratory of Dr. Tom Reh, professor of biological structure, studied a particular retinal cell called the Müller glia.
“This type of cell exists in all the retinas of all vertebrates,” Reh said, “so the cellular source for regeneration is present in the human retina.”
He added that further studies of the potential of these cells to regenerate and of methods to re-generate them may lead to new treatments for vision loss from retina-damaging diseases, like macular degeneration according to a University of Washington press release.
The researchers pointed out the remarkable ability of cold-blooded vertebrates like fish to regenerate their retinas after damage. Birds, which are warm-blooded, have some limited ability to regenerate retinal nerve cells after exposure to nerve toxins. Müller glia cells generally stop dividing after a baby’s eyes pass a certain developmental stage. In both fish and birds, the researchers explained, damage to retinal cells prompts the specialized Müller glia cells to start dividing again and become progenitor cells, which in turn become several types of specialized nerve cells.
Compared to birds, the scientist said, mammals have an even more limited Müller glia cell response to injury.
But researchers at UW showed that the Müller glia cells could be artificially stimulated to start dividing again, and some began to show light-detecting receptors. However, these studies, the researchers noted, weren’t able to detect any regenerated inner retina nerve cells. — Our Bureau
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