Retinal in Biological News

Tips from the American Journal of Pathology

... the source of the immune cells that respond to retinal injury, Joly et al used a mouse model of ... immune cells were involved in removal of dead retinal cells. The circulating cells entered the eye ... this process may "enable an immunization against retinal proteins. ...

MIT: Jeremy Nathans to deliver Scolnick Prize lecture

... of color vision, brain development, and retinal disease. "Jeremy Nathans exemplifies the ... these genes disrupt the function and survival of retinal cells. These studies have revealed several defects that lead to human retinal diseases including Stargardt disease, the most ...

Eye cells believed to be retinal stem cells are misidentified

... from the eye that many scientists believed were retinal stem cells are, in fact, normal adult cells, ... Jude Children's Research Hospital have found. If retinal stem cells could be obtained, they might provide ... to millions of people with blindness caused by retinal degeneration. Stem cells are immature cells ...

Cats' eye diseases genetically linked to diseases in humans

... "The same genetic mutations that cause retinal blindness in humans also cause retinal blindness in cats," said Kristina Narfstrom, the ... that are comparable to those of human babies. The retinal changes that occur and the progression to ...

Researchers describe protease inhibitor that may aid in diabetic retinopathy treatment

... in decreasing hypertension-induced increased retinal vascular permeability in rodents, by as much as 70%. Increased retinal vascular permeability is a characteristic finding ... to inhibit plasma kallikrein and reduce retinal blood vessel leakage," said Dr. Feener. "While ...

Mammals can be stimulated to regrow damaged inner retina nerve cells

... of biological structure, studied a particular retinal cell called the Mller glia. "This type of cell ... have some limited ability to regenerate retinal nerve cells after exposure to nerve toxins. Fish can generate all types of retinal nerve cells, the researcher said, but chicks ...

Gene therapy restores vision to mice with retinal degeneration

... to mice with degeneration of the light-sensing retinal rods and cones, a common cause of human ... the light-sensitive protein melanopsin in retinal ganglion cells. These specialized neurons ... melanopsin normally produced in 1 percent of retinal ganglion cells was found in about 10 percent of ...

Where optics meets medicine

... for eye disease involving blood flow in the retinal capillariesas people with diabetes routinely are ... significant promise for safely investigating retinal vascular changes in disease." The traditional ... confocal scanning laser opthalmoscope to produce retinal images in real time. A mirroring system helps ...

A second career for a growth factor receptor: keeping nerve axons on target

... an unanticipated factor that helps keep retinal axons from going astray. They report in the Sept. ... to lack p75. Through their synaptic connections, retinal axons develop a two-dimensional map of the retina ... targets in the brain. In the mice lacking p75, retinal axons stopped short of their final target and ...

St. Jude defines eye cancer gene's role in retinal development

... One important aspect of this coordination is that retinal thickness be the same, irrespective of eye size. ... smaller than that of the elephant eye, but the retinal thickness in these two species is comparable. ... the first example of a role for a Myc gene in retinal development, Dyer said. On the basis of our data, ...

Looking through the eyes of a mouse, scientists monitor circulating cells in its bloodstream

... team describes how they used the device, called a retinal flow cytometer, to non-invasively sample the blood passing through the vessels in the retinal tissue in the back of the eye. There they were ... by looking into the back of a rodents eye. The retinal tissue is rich with blood supply, and Lin and his ...

'Twinkle after-effect' can help retinal patients detect vision loss quickly and cheaply

... a simple and inexpensive way for patients with retinal and other eye disease to keep track of changes in ... and breadth of actual blind spots in people with retinal disease. The twinkle after-effect is a twinkling ... ophthalmologists office. The technique known as retinal specific microperimetry is a diagnostic tool that ...

Scientists eye secrets of retinal regeneration

... segment growth in rat retinas. "Basically, retinal transfection means introducing different genes ... Besides rewriting the ophthalmology textbooks on retinal growth, the discovery should greatly enhance ... say. "There are currently more than 100 retinal eye diseases in human populations, and problems ...

Restoring sight, advances in fertility treatments and better visibility for pilots at FIO

... by certain diseases, via a fully implantable retinal prosthetic device. In both retinitis ... years ago that direct electrical stimulation of retinal nerve cells in blind test subjects produced some ... of vision led to the development of the first retinal prosthesis. ...

Cell's split personality is a major discovery into neurological diseases

... of acute and chronic neurological disorders, including glaucoma and retinal artery occlusion. In many neurodegenerative diseases, a main factor ... are the primary link between the retina and the brain. The death of these retinal neurons from excess glutamate causes vision loss in various ...

NYU scientists identify critical protein complex in formation of cell cilia

... in a wide range of serious illnesses such as polycystic kidney disease, retinal degeneration, and neurological disorders. Inappropriate activation of ... have developed a mouse model with a CEP290 mutation implicated in retinal degeneration, and the NYU group is planning a study of human CEP290 ...

August LabBits: A media tip sheet from the MBL in Woods Hole

... a manta ray, they record electroretinograms (ERGs) to measure how retinal neurons respond to light stimuli in the presence and absence of normal ... "Once you understand the normal retina, you can determine the basis of retinal disorders." Managing the Conch Fishery Massachusetts fisherman ...

Protein transports nutrients believed to protect against eye disease

... process, Harrison said. The scientists worked with a line of human retinal pigment epithelial cells from the lining of the retina, which served as a ... lutein and zeaxanthin, as well as beta carotene. As expected, the retinal pigment epithelial cells absorbed much more of the xanthophylls than the ...

Brown to host conference on advances in neurotechnology

... and specialists in the following disciplines: cochlear (ear) implants and retinal (eye) prosthetics; spinal cord injuries; deep brain stimulation; and ... interviews, moderated by Palca. They include: Cochlear Implants and retinal Prosthetics Mark S. Humayun, M.D., professor, Keck School of ...

OSU technologies funded for development

... differentiation of immune cells associated with diabetes. By using human retinal capillary endothelial cells within the tissue model, Fahlenkamp plans to develop a retinal angiogenesis model, which will be used to screen potential diabetic ...

Protein controls blood vessel formation, offers new drug target

... control blood vessel growth in disease situations such as wound healing, retinal diseases and diabetes, said Leslie Parise, Ph.D., senior study author and ... by ischemia, or restricted blood flow. However, clinicians treating retinal disease need to restrict blood vessel growth in the eyes, while patients ...

Do migratory birds 'see' the magnetic field?

... for sensing the magnetic reference direction, have recently been found in retinal neurons of migratory birds (Mouritsen et al., PNAS, 2004). Furthermore, ... findings by demonstrating a functional neuronal connection between the retinal neurons and Cluster N via the visual thalamus. Thus, the only two parts ...

Omega-3 fatty acids appear to impact AMD progression

... progressing to the advanced stage. We hypothesize that the rapid rise of blood glucose initiated by high-GI foods results in cellular damage that retinal cells cannot handle, thus damaging eye tissues." dGI is a scale used to determine how quickly carbohydrates are broken down into blood sugar, also ...

Major breakthrough in early detection and prevention of AMD

... wet macular degeneration, because this new imaging technology introduces the possibility of detecting pathological neovascularization before retinal damage and vision loss occur," said Dr. Stephen J. Ryan, professor of ophthalmology at the University of Southern California and member of the ...

Story tips from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, June 2009

... instruments developed through a partnership between Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee Hamilton Eye Center in Memphis. The retinal Clinch tool features a design that allows the surgeon to remove scar tissue from the surface of the retina with improved precision. This is because ...

When every photon counts

... on top of each other. Computer simulations at the Cavendish Laboratory show that in this way the faint light is bundled and guided through the retinal thickness with only minimal loss. "It reaches the light-sensitive photoreceptor outer segments in a more focused fashion", says co-author Jochen ....

Ambati study published in PNAS

... of the body. Ambati's lab also reported last year in the New England Journal of Medicine that siRNA is deleterious to other cell types, such as the retinal pigmented epithelium, which is involved in age-related macular degeneration. "This may be a broadly imprinted response in the mammalian immune ...

ORNL, Southern Cal set sights on preventing blindness

... of Southern California and the University of Tennessee. The technique uses a new class of smart prosthetic implants to provide oxygen to retinal tissue being deprived of oxygen because of restricted blood flow. This condition occurs predominantly in patients with diabetic retinopathy ( ...

Progression of retinal disease linked to cell starvation

... The entire plate gets covered in "plastic," with the flexible plastic reaching down to touch each stack. In the eye, this plastic consists of a giant retinal pigment (RPE) cell, which supplies nutrients to the rods and cones on its plate. With this structure in mind, researchers have proposed a variety ...

Researchers design artificial cells that could power medical implants

... cells. The tiny bio-batteries would only need to be about -inch thick to produce the small voltages needed to power tiny electrical devices such as retinal implants or other prostheses. Although the engineers came up with a design, it will still be some time before the artificial cells are actually ...

LSUHSC awarded patent for compound inhibiting cancer and other diseases

... uveitis/vitritis, mycobacterial infections, Lyme disease, systemic lupus erythematosis, psoriasis, myopia, optic pits, Stargarts disease, chronic retinal detachment, hyperviscosity syndrome, toxoplasmosis, trauma, rheumatoid arthritis, and post-laser complications. ...

Tell me by the way I walk

... Biometrics is commonly associated retinal scans, iris recognition and DNA databases, but researchers in India are working on another form of biometrics that could allow law enforcement ...

Cell-based therapy shows promise in patients with Parkinson's disease

... CHICAGO - A novel cell therapy using retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells attached to tiny gelatin bead microcarriers implanted in the brain can improve the symptoms of patients with moderate ...

'Fluorescent' cells give early warning for eye disease

... interface. Petty, a biophysicist and expert in imaging, explains why FA data is a good predictor of disease. Autofluorescence occurs when retinal cells begin to die, often the first event in diseases like glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy, he says. Cell death can be observed microscopically, ...

Biophysical Society announces 2008 International Travel Awards

... Receptors in Rat Heart Cells. Xu-Long Wang, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China, Intracellular Calcium Dynamics Mediated by NMDA Receptors in retinal Horizontal Cells. Merridee A. Wouters, Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, Sydney, Australia, 'Forbidden' Disulfides: Their Role as Redox ...

Green alga genome project catalogs carbon capture machinery

... and flagella--for instance, the neurological movement disorder dyskinesia; polycystic kidney disease (PKD); and some forms of liver, respiratory and retinal degeneration disease. ...

First clinical trial of gene therapy for childhood blindness

... amaurosis (LCA), which is a type of inherited retinal degeneration. This disease causes progressive ... eye surgeon Mr James Bainbridge and leading retinal specialist Professor Tony Moore. Professor ... Professor Ali added: "There are many forms of retinal degeneration, meaning the use of gene therapy ...

MU researcher placing eye implants in cats to help humans see

... retinitis pigmentosa, that causes the death of retinal cells and, eventually, blindness," Narfstrom ... the protection the implants might provide to the retinal cells that are dying due to disease progression ... Persian cats that are affected with hereditary retinal blinding disease. The cat's eye is a good model ...

Stem cell therapy shows promise for rescuing deteriorating vision

... vision would typically be lost to degenerative retinal disease, the cells were shown to protect vision ... "On their own, they were able to support retinal cells and keep them alive," says Lund, who has ... neuroprotective," says Gamm. "They don't become retinal cells. They maintain their own identity, but they ...