Blindness and Eye Problems: Vision in Mice Restored

One of the most important senses of our bodies is vision. Unfortunately, our vision, of course, can be lost due to age or disease. However, scientists at the University of Florida may have found a way to correct that, or at least some of the forms of blindness. Using mice to test out their theories, the scientists injected corrective genes straight into the eyes of the mice. To be more specific, the genes were injected into the cones inside the eyeball, which are the part of the eye that determines visual sharpness and color in humans.

The form of blindness that the mice were afflicted with is called achromatopsia, which disables cone photoreceptors in the retina. Roughly 1 in 30,000 people in the United States are stricken with this hereditary disease, which causes almost complete color blindness and poor central vision, as opposed to peripheral.
In order to deliver the genes into the mice's eyes, researchers used a harmless virus that transported the corrective genes directly to the cones. Within two months of this procedure, the mice's eyes exhibited signs of electrical activity, meaning that the cones were beginning to work. In fact, out of the 21 mice that were tested, 19 showed signs of visual activity, and 17 out of those 19 showed activity that is similar to that of mice with normal vision. Roughly 6 to 7 months later, 18 out the initial 21 mice continued to exhibit electrical activity in their eyes.