Scientists restore basic vision in lab mice
Researchers have long tried to get the optic nerve to regenerate when injured, with some success, but no one has been able to demonstrate recovery of vision. A team at Harvard-affiliated Children’s Hospital reports a three-pronged intervention that not only got optic nerve fibers to grow the full length of the visual pathway (from retina to the visual areas of the brain), but also restored some basic elements of vision in live mice. Larry Benowitz, a professor of surgery and of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School, and colleagues at the F.M. Kirby Neurobiology Center at Harvard-affiliated Children’s Hospital showed that mice with severe optic nerve damage can regain some depth perception, the ability to detect overall movement of the visual field, and perceive light, allowing them to synchronize their sleep/wake cycles. The findings, published online by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, hint that those blinded by optic nerve damage...