New technique generates rod photoreceptors tagged posts

An artist’s rendering incorporates the images of the Müller glia-derived rod photoreceptors. These photoreceptors were structurally no different from real photoreceptors and they became integrated within the circuitry of the visual pathway, from the retina to the brain. Credit: Bo Chen, Ph.D.

New technique generates rod photoreceptors that integrate into the retina and brain. Researchers funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI) have reversed congenital blindness in mice by changing supportive cells in the retina called Müller glia into rod photoreceptors. The findings advance efforts toward regenerative therapies for blinding diseases such as age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa.

“This is the first report of scientists reprogramming Müller glia to become functional...