Restoration of Vision with Ectopic Expression of Human Rod Opsin.

ABSTRACT: Many retinal dystrophies result in photoreceptor loss, but the inner retinal neurons can survive, making them potentially amenable to emerging optogenetic therapies. Here, we show that ectopically expressed human rod opsin, driven by either a non-selective or ON-bipolar cell-specific promoter, can function outside native photoreceptors and restore visual function in a mouse model of advanced retinal degeneration. Electrophysiological recordings from retinal explants and the visual thalamus revealed changes in firing (increases and decreases) induced by simple light pulses, luminance increases, and naturalistic movies in treated mice. These responses could be elicited at light intensities within the physiological range and substantially below those required by other optogenetic strategies.

SUBMITTER: Cehajic-Kapetanovic J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4540256 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature