Researchers Identify Process for Regenerating Eye and Brain Neurons
RandomFactor writes:
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University, the University of Notre Dame, University of Florida, and Ohio State Universities have identified genes that regulate the process of neuron regeneration in some animals.
[Researchers] mapped the genes of animals that have the ability to regenerate retinal neurons. For example, when the retina of a zebrafish is damaged, cells called the Muller glia go through a process known as reprogramming. During reprogramming, the Muller glia cells will change their gene expression to become like progenitor cells, or cells that are used during early development of an organism. Therefore, these now progenitor-like cells can become any cell necessary to fix the damaged retina.
Like zebrafish, people also have Muller glia cells. However, when the human retina is damaged, the Muller glia cells respond with gliosis, a process that does not allow them to reprogram.
"After determining the varying animal processes for retina damage recovery, we had to decipher if the process for reprogramming and gliosis were similar. Would the Muller glia follow the same path in regenerating and non-regenerating animals or would the paths be completely different?" said [David Hyde, professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Notre Dame and co-author on the study], who also serves as the Kenna Director of the Zebrafish Research Center at Notre Dame. "This was really important, because if we want to be able to use Muller glia cells to regenerate retinal neurons in people, we need to understand if it would be a matter of redirecting the current Muller glia path or if it would require an entirely different process."
The research could eventually lead to therapies for a variety of neurodegenerative brain and eye disorders that would someday cure, rather than just slow progression of diseases like Parkinson's
Journal Reference:
Thanh Hoang, Jie Wang, Patrick Boyd, et al. Gene regulatory networks controlling vertebrate retinal regeneration [$], Science (DOI: 10.1126/science.abb8598)
Read more of this story at SoylentNews.