Brain compensates for vision loss in mouse trial

Biologists from Belgium have discovered a molecular on-off switch that controls how a mouse brain responds to vision loss.

When the switch is on, the loss of sight in one eye was compensated by the other eye, but also by tactile input from the whiskers. When the switch is off, only the other eye took over.

These findings may help improve patient susceptibility to sensory prosthetics such as cochlear implants or bionic eyes.

‘Our brain adjusts to changes of all kind. This brain plasticity is useful for neural development and learning, but also comes into play when the nervous system is damaged. For instance, when we lose sight in one eye, our brain no longer receives sensory input from that eye, but it will compensate for that loss,’ researchers from KU Leuven Laboratory for Neuroplasticity and Neuroproteomics said.