Optogenetic restoration of high sensitivity vision with bReaChES, a red-shifted channelrhodopsin.

ABSTRACT: The common final pathway to blindness in many forms of retinal degeneration is the death of the light-sensitive primary retinal neurons. However, the normally light-insensitive second- and third-order neurons persist optogenetic gene therapy aims to restore sight by rendering such neurons light-sensitive. Here, we investigate whether bReaChES, a newly described high sensitivity Type I opsin with peak sensitivity to long-wavelength visible light, can restore vision in a murine model of severe early-onset retinal degeneration. Intravitreal injection of an adeno-associated viral vector carrying the sequence for bReaChES downstream of the calcium calmodulin kinase IIα promoter resulted in sustained retinal expression of bReaChES. Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) expressing bReaChES generated acti

SUBMITTER: Too LK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9652428 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature