No blind mice - see how they run
1 Feb 2005 by Evoluted New Media
A NEW treatment developed by scientists in the States is set to eradicate diabetic retinopathy altogether. This condition is the leading cause of blindness outside the elderly – in the USA it causes 12,000 to 24,000 cases of blindness each year.....
A NEW treatment developed by scientists in the States is set to eradicate diabetic retinopathy altogether. This condition is the leading cause of blindness outside the elderly – in the USA it causes 12,000 to 24,000 cases of blindness each year.....
The University of Florida has reported that scientists have prevented blindness in mice afflicted with a condition similar to one that robs thousands of diabetics of their sight each year. For the first time, researchers have described the link between a protein known as SDF-1 and retinopathy.
the formation of SDF-1 in the eyeballs of mice with simulated retinopathy, ending the explosive blood vessel growth that characterises the condition.
This effectively silenced SDF-1' signal to activate normally helpful blood stem cells, which become too much of a good thing within the close confines of the eyeball..
"SDF-1 is themain thing that tells blood stem cells where to go," said Edward Scott, an Associate Professor of Molecular Genetics at the UF Shands Cancer Centre.
"If you get a cut, the body makes SDF-1 at the injury site and the repair cells sniff it out. The concentration of SDF-1 is higher where the cut occurs and it quickly dissipates. But the eye and the repair cells sniff it out. The concentration of SDF-1 is higher where the cut occurs and it quickly dissapates.
"The eye is such a unique place, you'e got this bag of jelly – the vitreous – that just sits there and it fills up with SDF-1.
"The SDF-1 doesn' break down. It continues to call the new blood vessels to come that way, causing all the problems."
