Paris, France
A condition known as Leber hereditary optic neuropathy robs young adults of their sight by destroying the optic nerve. In Paris, Marisol Corral-Debrinski and her team at the Pierre and Marie Curie university have created a treatment which may be the light at the end of the tunnel for potential sufferers of the disorder.
The experimental treatment involved implanting functional copies of the ND4 gene, which is irregular in Leber patients, into lab rats with the disease. Electric impulses were used to temporarily open the cells' surface pores. Among treated rats, most of the optic nerve cells survived. Untreated rats lost 40% of their optic nerve cells within eight weeks.
Though the current treatment has only been tested in lab rats, the solution to Leber is beginning to come into focus.
To read more, visit http://www.newscientist.com/channel/health/mg19926735.000-hereditary-blindness-therapy-within-sight.html?feedId=online-news_rss20
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
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