Optic nerve regenerated in animal study

Scientists have been able to regenerate damaged optic nerves in mice, and the discovery may lead to potential treatments for glaucoma, according to a press release from Schepens Eye Institute, where the study was performed.

Dong Fong Chen, MD, and colleagues kept the BCL-2 gene “on” in a mouse model; they believed damaged optic nerves turn “off” the BCL-2 gene that activates growth and regeneration and that glial cells create both the physical and molecular barrier to regeneration. The second part of the experiment used a mouse line that carried mutations of the glial-specific gene, the Schepens release said.

With the BCL-2 turned on, “robust optic nerve regeneration” was possible in postnatal mice, but occurred only in those mice whose brains had not yet formed the glial scar, the researchers noted. In those mice with BCL-2 turned on and the glial gene mutation, the optic nerves returned to an embryonic state and “robust regeneration” occurred within days.

“We could see that at least 40% of the optic nerve had been restored,” Dr. Chen said, “but we believe that an even higher percentage actually regenerated.”