"Astounding growth"
The proteins are known to inhibit apoptosis
- the mechanism by which cells self-destruct - but Thanos thinks they also
promote regrowth in the axon by blocking receptors for growth-inhibiting
proteins at the growing tip of the nerve.
Previous studies by Larry Benowitz at Harvard
Medical School have shown that injury to the lens can stimulate optic nerves
to grow by up to 4 millimetres. He says the German researchers have achieved
"astounding levels of axon growth" with their technique. But he disagrees
with their explanation of how it works. Benowitz thinks that the axons
are stimulated by the inflammatory immune response triggered by the surgery,
rather than by any inhibiting effect of crystallins.
Whatever the mechanism, three months after
the surgery, about 30 per cent of the nerve fibres had regenerated. This
included all major cell types, including those carrying colour and contrast
information from the eye to the brain. "Even 10 per cent is sufficient
for residual sight," says Thanos.
The regenerated nerves also carried normal
electrical signals, suggesting that they had rewired themselves into the
brain, although the connections were a bit scrambled. The team is currently
studying the rats' behaviour to assess how good their eyesight is.
Jerry Silver, a nerve regeneration expert
at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio, says the crucial question now
is whether the findings can be applied to other parts of the nervous system.
More at: Experimental Neurology (vol 172, p 257)
---------------------------------------------------
Converted iris cells could restore damaged retinas
09:46 12 November 01
Emma Young
Iris cells can be tweaked to imitate retinal
cells, raising the prospect of using a patient's own tissue to treat damaged
retinas, say Japanese researchers.
In the developing eye, the inner layer of
the "optic cup" differentiates into the retina and the iris. "This common
developmental origin prompted us to test whether iris tissue could give
rise to retinal tissue," Masayo Takahashi of Kyoto University and his colleagues
write in the journal Nature Neuroscience.
The team extracted iris tissue from adult
rats' eyes, a relatively straightforward procedure. Then they used a modified
virus to introduce into the cells a master switch gene expressed in mature
light-reactive cells in the retina.
They found that the cells produced rhodopsin,
the light-sensitive pigment contained in rod photoreceptor cells in the
retina. Ultimately, the team hope that iris cells could be coaxed into
producing rhodopsin using chemical factors, rather than gene therapy.
Stem cell failure
"Our results have opened up the possibility
of autograft of photoreceptor cells, however we still have a long way to
go," Takahashi told New Scientist.
Autografts involve removing a section of tissue
from a patient and grafting it somewhere else on their body. Retinal transplants
from one person to another are currently performed, but there is a severe
lack of donors. The potential for immune system rejection of the transplanted
tissue is also a problem.
Iris cells offer the best hope for retinal
autografts, says Takahashi. Attempts to create photoreceptors from neural
stem cells, for example, have so far failed.
Age-related macular degeneration, which involves
a wearing out of light-sensitive rod and cone cells, is one of the commonest
causes of blindness in the west and affects 30 per cent of people over
75. The only cure is to transplant healthy cells into the damaged area.
Journal reference: Nature Neuroscience (DOI: 10.1038/nn762)