Laha Bireswar, Stafford Ben K, Huberman Andrew D
Department of Neurobiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
Department of Ophthalmology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
Science. 2017 Jun 9;356(6342):1031-1034. doi: 10.1126/science.aal5060.
Humans are highly visual. Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), the neurons that connect the eyes to the brain, fail to regenerate after damage, eventually leading to blindness. Here, we review research on regeneration and repair of the optic system. Intrinsic developmental growth programs can be reactivated in RGCs, neural activity can enhance RGC regeneration, and functional reformation of eye-to-brain connections is possible, even in the adult brain. Transplantation and gene therapy may serve to replace or resurrect dead or injured retinal neurons. Retinal prosthetics that can restore vision in animal models may too have practical power in the clinical setting. Functional restoration of sight in certain forms of blindness is likely to occur in human patients in the near future.
人类具有高度的视觉能力。视网膜神经节细胞(RGCs)是连接眼睛与大脑的神经元,受损后无法再生,最终导致失明。在此,我们综述了关于视神经系统再生与修复的研究。内在的发育生长程序可在视网膜神经节细胞中重新激活,神经活动可增强视网膜神经节细胞的再生,即使在成人大脑中,眼与脑连接的功能重塑也是可能的。移植和基因治疗可能有助于替代或复活死亡或受损的视网膜神经元。能够在动物模型中恢复视力的视网膜假体在临床环境中也可能具有实际作用。在不久的将来,某些形式失明的人类患者有望实现视力的功能恢复。