Human Eyes: Are They Immortal?

Human vision may be revived through the light-sensing cells in organ donor eyes as per a study at the University Of Utah Health, published in the journal Nature. The study team successfully restored the communication between the light-sensing neuron cells to transform brain and vision research.

The study used the retina as a model of the central nervous system to investigate how neurons (brain cells) die, following which they framed new methods to revive them.

Revival of Human Eye

“We were able to wake up photoreceptor cells in the human macula, which is the part of the retina responsible for our central vision and our ability to see fine detail and color. In eyes obtained up to five hours after an organ donor’s death, these cells responded to bright light, colored lights, and even very dim flashes of light,” says Moran Eye Center scientist Fatima Abbas.

The team also designed a special transportation unit to restore oxygenation and other nutrients to the organ donor eyes.

“We were able to make the retinal cells talk to each other, the way they do in the living eye to mediate human vision. Past studies have restored very limited electrical activity in organ donor eyes, but this has never been achieved in the macula, and never to the extent we have now demonstrated,” says Frans Vinberg of the University of Utah.

This approach may further help develop treatments to improve vision and light signaling in eyes with age-related diseases.

Source-Medindia