US researchers investigating Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA) treated mice with synthetic retinoids, partially restoring visually responsive neurons in the primary visual cortex, indicating the adult brain has the potential to recover from inherited blindness.
Researchers noted synthetic retinoids have been shown to restore some vision in children with LCA, whose brains are in the plastic phase. However, this treatment’s success in adulthood supports a new concept of latent potential for vision just waiting to be triggered, they wrote.
Describing their work, Associate Professor Sunil Gandhi, co-director of the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory at the University of California, told Eyesmart the signals coming from the opposite-side eye (the dominant pathway in the mouse) activated double the amount of neurons in the brain immediately after retinoid treatment.
“What was even more mind-blowing was the signals coming from the same-side eye pathway activated five-fold more neurons in the brain after the treatment and this impressive effect was long-lasting. The restoration of visual function at the level of the brain was much greater than expected from the improvements we saw at the level of the retinae,” said A/Prof Gandhi.
