A rat with degenerated photoreceptors received a transplant of fetal retinal cells. The asterisks mark photoreceptors surrounded by donor bipolar cells (yellow).
FOIK ET AL., J NEUROSCI (2018)
Blind rats that have no functional photoreceptors gain sight after a transplant of retinal cells, a study finds. Researchers implanted a fetal retina sheet in one eye of each of the animals, and after several months the rats’ primary visual cortices that corresponded to the treated eye responded normally to visual stimuli.
A.T. Foik et al., “Detailed visual cortical responses generated by retinal sheet transplants in rats with severe retinal degeneration,” J Neurosci, doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1279-18.2018, 2018.
Interested in reading more?
The Scientist ARCHIVES
Become a Member of
Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!
