Hope for visually impaired?: Scientists reverse blindness in mammals for first time.

[djsFlames]

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/311600.php

It's a small step, but a measurable one that may eventually lead to an answer for those with visual impairment. As most are hopefully aware, there are nerves between the eyes and brain responsible for vision we refer to as optic nerves that when damaged by such conditions as Glaucoma (causing pressure in the eye) or injury can lead to blindness or vision loss that can't be helped, because they don't naturally repair themselves. It has only been theorized to be possible to be able to regrow or regenerate these nerves until recently.

But apparently in news this week though some scientists have now managed to regrow some neurons that make up these nerves and restore some* vision in an experiment with mice - the first time with mammals - which is very exciting news.

This repairing or regeneration of such nerves may lead to hope not too far down the road for people not only living with blindness but potentially such things as spinal cord injuries.

A bit of really good news to maybe offset some of the bad lately.

[T@T]

In a 3-400 years I would guess deafness,blindness and the use of wheelchairs would be a thing of the past. lets hope humankind lasts that long.

P.S. this should be in the "ongoing science" thread though.

[icecube]

Originally Posted by T@T

In a 3-400 years I would guess deafness,blindness and the use of wheelchairs would be a thing of the past. lets hope humankind lasts that long.

P.S. this should be in the "ongoing science" thread though.

More like 30-40 years, and lets hope humankind lasts that long.

[taco.vidal]

I assume there's many others on here like me who never go into various megathreads. I appreciate this thread because it has broader social implications that people other than science geeks might want to read about.

Originally Posted by T@T

P.S. this should be in the "ongoing science" thread though.

[djsFlames]

Nope. This is pretty newsworthy I'd say.

One person involved was quoted (It may be another article covering the same story as there are many) that they're hopeful after this advancement in the research to be able to produce the same positive results in people within 5 years. Sorry I can't dig that up at this moment.
But that would be huge.

[To Be Quite Honest]

Harvard Uni have developed a method to regrow a tooth and it's nerves with a stem cell stimulating filling. Go stem cell research!

http://www.newsweek.com/dental-filli...avities-477415

[Canehdianman]

As a guy with terrible eyes who just had his right retina detach twice in a row, this is ####ing awesome news.