Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is an essential fatty acid that is highly concentrated in photoreceptor cells (PRCs), where it helps to maintain their function. But the pathways that affect DHA availability in PRCs had not been described until a recent report from Nicolas Bazan (Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans) and colleagues identified adiponectinContinueContinue reading “Regulating DHA in the retina”
Tag Archives: vision
The importance of order in visual communication
Syntax, or the sequence of compositional elements, is known to be an important component of acoustic communication, but its relevance in visual communication has not been established. Kevin Woo (SUNY Empire State College, New York, NY) and Guillaume Rieucau (Institute of Marine Research, Bergen, Norway) assessed the role of syntax in visual communication in theContinueContinue reading “The importance of order in visual communication”
Seeing a way to remodel connections
During development, the eyes compete to connect with the brain’s binocular zone, and one eye sometimes prevails. This can lead to amblyopia, the most common cause of childhood visual impairment, in which the brain’s preference for the strong eye increases at the expense of the weaker eye. Patching the strong eye can help to correctContinueContinue reading “Seeing a way to remodel connections”
Traversing the retina without damage
Hereditary retinal degeneration, in which mutations in photoreceptors and other delicate cells of the eye’s outermost retinal layer lead to deterioration and visual impairment, affects roughly 1 in 3,000 people worldwide. Gene therapy can successfully deliver normal copies of the mutated genes to the affected cells using adeno-associated virus (AAV) but requires that the virusContinueContinue reading “Traversing the retina without damage”
Synchronicity belies simplicity in short-term memory
Most of us draw on our visual recognition and short-term memory abilities many times a day and with relatively little fanfare, but these seemingly mundane activities have rather complex underpinnings within our brains. The tasks involve different, non-adjacent brain regions: short-term memory formation occurs in the lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC), and visual information processing primarilyContinueContinue reading “Synchronicity belies simplicity in short-term memory”
Keeping the cornea clear
To preserve its transparency so that we can see clearly, the cornea of the eye normally does not contain blood vessels. The mechanism that prevents vessel growth (angiogenesis) in the cornea to maintain this transparency was previously unknown. But Tsutomu Kume (Feinberg Cardiovascular Research Institute, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL), Ordan Lehmann (University of Alberta, Edmonton,ContinueContinue reading “Keeping the cornea clear”
Clearer view of ‘acute’ glaucoma
Glaucoma is a common eye disease and leading cause of blindness. In glaucoma, intraocular pressure (IOP; fluid pressure within the eye) increases, damaging the optic nerve and causing vision loss. The familiar ‘chronic’ subtype of glaucoma develops slowly and may have few symptoms; many of those affected do not know they have the condition untilContinueContinue reading “Clearer view of ‘acute’ glaucoma”
Advances in uveitis treatment
Recent experiments in rats have elucidated the mechanism of action underlying uveitis, one of the world’s leading causes of blindness in humans, and have identified a new avenue for its treatment. Uveitis, inflammation of the tissue layer below the outer surface of the eye (uvea), which includes the iris, can be caused by autoimmune disease,ContinueContinue reading “Advances in uveitis treatment”
Sight for blind mice
Collaborators at two major research institutions in the US have shown that gene therapy can target cone cells and rescue electrical response and visual acuity in a mouse model of achromatopsia, a disorder causing hereditary blindness in roughly 1 of every 30,000 humans. Lab Anim. (NY) 36, 8 (2007). view full text (login required) [NOTE:ContinueContinue reading “Sight for blind mice”
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