The optic nerve that sends visual signals to the brain must pass through the retina which creates a hole in that light-sensitive layer of tissue. When images project to that precise location, we miss them. This blind spot can be ‘shrunk’ despite the fact that the hole in our visual field cannot be. The findings…
Researchers increased the resistance of cells to damage by repeatedly exposing the mice to low levels of oxygen similar to those found at high altitudes. The stress of the intermittent low-oxygen environment induces a protective response called tolerance that makes nerve cells — including those in the eye — less vulnerable to harm. Stress is…
Promising treatments for those blinded by an often-hereditary, retina-damaging disease are expanding throughout Europe and making their way across the pond, offering a ray of hope for the hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. left in the dark by retinitis pigmentosa. The disease—which affects about one in 4,000 people in the U.S. and…