Researchers have taken another significant step towards eventually being able to help people suffering from age-related macular degeneration (AMD) to regain their sight, according to WKYC.com in a recent article.
According to the article, AMD has traditionally been regarded as the sort of condition that people simply had to learn to live with. Advice for people diagnosed with the condition, which usually impacts those who are 50 or older, has generally been along the lines of employing magnification devices and utilizing more light. And while there have been positive developments in the fight against blindness-causing AMD, the developments have usually represented baby steps.
However, an exciting development from researchers affiliated with the University of California at Berkeley suggests that the hope of one day restoring sight lost to AMD is not merely some pie in the sky sort of fairy tale. The article noted that the researchers were able to temporarily restore the vision of blind mice courtesy of inserting a sort of ammonium chemical into their eyes. According to the article, the chemical injected into the eyes of the blind mice essentially boosted their eyes’ sensitivity to light to the extent that the blind mice regained vision.
According to the article, the researchers demonstrated for the first time ever that injecting something into the eye can reverse harm dome to photo receptor cells. This is an important finding because harm to these cells is the root cause of blindness.
The article added that the capacity to inject chemical compounds to eradicate blindness represents a solid step forward in the fight against AMD because the chemical isn’t permanent, which means that it can easily be discontinued if it either doesn’t work or causes problems. Meanwhile, the same can’t be said for gene therapy, which is of a more permanent nature and can therefore lead to problems.
Previous research has demonstrated that there are certain risks factors that can increase AMD risks. Smoking, drinking alcohol and being obese are but three risk factors that people need to keep in check if they want to lower their odds of coming down with AMD.
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Reference: http://www.wkyc.com/news/article/256571/3/Injection-therapy-may-help-restore-sight