ABOVE: A mouse’s crushed optic nerve, composed of retinal ganglion cell axons (bright streaks), regenerates after researchers injected a virus into the eye that contains genes whose activity dedifferentiates cells into a more youthful state, allowing them to regrow.
YUANCHENG LU/SINCLAIR LAB
Loss of visual acuity is a common feature of aging, whether it’s from age-related conditions such as glaucoma, an impaired ability for cells to respond to damage, or degeneration. In an attempt to address these issues with a genetic intervention, scientists reprogrammed neurons in mouse eyes to regrow after inducing glaucoma or crushing the optic nerve, and restored visual acuity in healthy, middle-aged mice to that of younger mice by expressing a set of genes known to revert cells to a pluripotent state, according to a study published in Nature Wednesday (December 2). The before-and-after genome methylation profiles of treated neurons and the requirement of demethylation enzymes for the ...
