Neuroscientists at the University of Cambridge have utilised gene therapy to regenerate damaged optic nerve cells in mice.
The study, which could lead to potential treatments for glaucoma, showed that reactivating a regenerative protein in nerve cells called protrudin led to mice having more surviving nerve cells after an optic nerve injury than a control group.
In another experiment scientists investigated whether a protrudin boost could prevent nerve cells from dying in the first place, discovering that stimulating protrudin production had been ‘almost entirely neuroprotective’.
Further research is required into whether a protrudin boost would actually restore sight in mice, with the effects on human retinal cells also needing additional study.