Two gene injections reprogram Müller glia into rod photoreceptors in the retinas of blind mice and partially restore the animals’ vision, researchers report today (August 15) in Nature. With further development, the technique could lead to treatments for conditions such as retinitis pigmentosa, in which rods degenerate.
“The biggest takeaway from this paper is that it is possible to reprogram Müller glia in mammalian retina and partially restore visual function,” study coauthor Bo Chen, an ophthalmologist and regenerative biologist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, tells The Scientist.
Based on previous studies in fish and other animals, the results aren’t a surprise, notes Javier Francisco-Morcillo, a cell biologist at the University of Extremadura in Badajoz, Spain, who was not involved in the study. Studies like this, which demonstrate the capacity to use mammalian Müller glia as intrinsic stem cells for efficient retinal neuron ...
