Transplanting light-sensitive photoreceptor cells into mice with night blindness resulted in improved night vision. Night blindness means seeing poorly in the darkness, but seeing normally when there is enough light. In this groundbreaking research, scientists injected light-sensitive photoreceptor cells into night-blind mice’s eyes. After this treatment, the animals were able to see well enough to navigate a water maze and swim toward a visual cue in dimly lit conditions. Controls who did not receive the treatment were unable to efficiently navigate the maze.
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Injecting “precursor” photoreceptor cells into the eyes of totally blind mice resulted in the reconstruction the entire light-sensitive layer inside the eye, restoring the experimental animals’ vision. While the quality of vision was not easy to evaluate, the mice ran away from bright light, had pupils that responded to light, and had brain activity showing they were processing visual information.