WEDNESDAY, April 5, 2006 (HealthDay News) -- Could a protein from algae help reverse blindness?
Blind mice were able to respond to light after researchers inserted a green algae protein into retinal nerve cell membranes that normally aren't sensitive to light, according to a U.S. study in the April 6 issue of Neuron.
The green algae protein is called channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2). The mice used in the study were bred to gradually lose light-sensitive rod and cone cells in their retinas, mimicking a blinding, degenerative eye disease called retinitis pigmentosa in humans.
The results from this study suggest it may be possible to restore visual function by introducing light-sensitivity into other retinal cells, even after rods and cones have died.
The light sensitivity in the mice that received ChR2 lasted for about six months, but the mice did not regain usable vision. However, further research may make vision restoration possible, the researchers said.
The study was funded by the U.S. National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
"This innovative gene-transfer approach is certainly compelling," Dr. Paul A. Sieving, director of vision research at the NIH, said in a prepared statement. "This is a clever approach that offers the possibility of some extent of vision restoration at some time in the future."
This kind of approach may be effective in treating a number of degenerative eye disease, he added.
More information
The Foundation Fighting Blindness has more about retinitis pigmentosa.
