Partial recovery of visual function in a blind patient after optogenetic therapy
Top Cited Papers
- 24 May 2021
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Nature Medicine
- Vol. 27 (7), 1223-1229
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-021-01351-4
Abstract
Optogenetics may enable mutation-independent, circuit-specific restoration of neuronal function in neurological diseases. Retinitis pigmentosa is a neurodegenerative eye disease where loss of photoreceptors can lead to complete blindness. In a blind patient, we combined intraocular injection of an adeno-associated viral vector encoding ChrimsonR with light stimulation via engineered goggles. The goggles detect local changes in light intensity and project corresponding light pulses onto the retina in real time to activate optogenetically transduced retinal ganglion cells. The patient perceived, located, counted and touched different objects using the vector-treated eye alone while wearing the goggles. During visual perception, multichannel electroencephalographic recordings revealed object-related activity above the visual cortex. The patient could not visually detect any objects before injection with or without the goggles or after injection without the goggles. This is the first reported case of partial functional recovery in a neurodegenerative disease after optogenetic therapy.Keywords
This publication has 46 references indexed in Scilit:
- The Standardization of Uveitis Nomenclature (SUN) ProjectMethods of Information in Medicine, 2013
- Development and application of a next-generation-sequencing (NGS) approach to detect known and novel gene defects underlying retinal diseasesOrphanet Journal of Rare Diseases, 2012
- High-Throughput Retina-Array for Screening 93 Genes Involved in Inherited Retinal DystrophyInvestigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 2011
- Genetic Reactivation of Cone Photoreceptors Restores Visual Responses in Retinitis PigmentosaScience, 2010
- Alpha phase coupling reflects object recognitionNeuroImage, 2008
- Spontaneous Fluctuations in Posterior -Band EEG Activity Reflect Variability in Excitability of Human Visual AreasCerebral Cortex, 2007
- α-Band Electroencephalographic Activity over Occipital Cortex Indexes Visuospatial Attention Bias and Predicts Visual Target DetectionJournal of Neuroscience, 2006
- Ectopic Expression of a Microbial-Type Rhodopsin Restores Visual Responses in Mice with Photoreceptor DegenerationNeuron, 2006
- Alpha rhythm of the EEG modulates visual detection performance in humansCognitive Brain Research, 2004
- Electrical Brain Potentials in Retinitis Pigmentosa and Familial HemeralopiaOphthalmologica, 1955