The developing pre-natal eye requires light that passes through the body and into the womb, according to recent animal research. Mice that had no access to light during pregnancy gave birth to offspring whose eyes were not developed correctly. This indicated that small amounts of light are necessary, during gestation, to control eye blood vessel growth.
This research is considered to be a breakthrough, and scientists were surprised because until now, maternal exposure to light during pregnancy was not considered relevant to fetal development.
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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.
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.
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Vitamin D
Anderson Cooper, veteran reporter for the news channel CNN, was temporarily blinded by a flash corneal burn from excessive sun exposure while researching a news story in Portugal. He was not wearing sunglasses. The reporter’s eyesight returned after 36 hours.
A study has found that a type of glaucoma called “low-tension” may be helped using gingko biloba extract, a natural supplement.
There have not been any reported cases so far of eye infection in eye surgery patients who received medications from the New England Compounding Pharmacy (NECC); however, other types of patients have contracted fungal meningitis. Several NECC products were recalled after patients receiving drug injections for back pain became ill. More than 400 people in 15 states developed fungal infections that have been traced to products from NECC, and more than 29 people have died.
Cataracts is a clouding of the eye lens, and one option for managing this eye disease is