An Idea to Heal the Blind

[Tony.]

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Ok here is a question...

we know that if the optic nerve is damaged somehow, then the person goes blind.
Neurons cant divide and replicate themselves to heal damaged neurons that make up the optic nerve. (that is why the blind stay blind, right?)
so !!! WHAT IF YOU CAN SOMEHOW PUT "CENTRIOLES" in cells? specifically, neurons!! I just thought of this! Centrioles are involved with the replication process in cells........if you can do that...wouldnt the optic nerve generate "new" nerve cells, and the optic nerve can heal. Why hasnt someone thought of this earlier? Lets just put Centioles in the neurons that are involved with the optic nerves, watch it divide and heal all the blind people in the world !!😎

 

[cpw]

not all blindness is caused by optic nerve damage. I'm sure if such a theory has been thought of.. it's being tried in a research lab somewhere. 🙂

 

[eyedream82]

anothertony,

if only our body could be THAT easy to understand! i'm sure your idea is very bright, but research takes decades, even centuries, before we can "put centrioles" into the neurons (e.g. retinal pigment epithelial).

just an example:
this summer i did my senior research project at an ophthalmology department at a local med school. i was all excited about finding a cure for gyrate atrophy. i was working with polyamines and this drug called DFMO (difluoromethylornithine). like you, i had all of these obvious ideas and plans as to how i can find a cure for this disease...but once my research started, it's a huge world out there. I spent 3 months in a lab and all i found was the localization of polyamines during the spreading and migration process of ARPE-19 cells. What's next to be done is to find out the mechanisms and pathways in which the polyamines travel in not only ARPE19 but also D407 cells.

So you see, the puzzle was bigger than i thought. It takes a lot of pieces to put together such a giant puzzle to figure out a cure for gyrate atrophy. I only contributed a single "piece" to the puzzle and there are still thousands "pieces" out there. So i can definitely assure you that curing blindness is a not as simple as inserting centrioles back into the damaged cells and.......viola, you can see again!! But hey, that's not such a bad theory.
😎

 

[Tony.]

eyedream 82,

thank you for your reply. My dad is blind and Im constantly thinking of ways to help him out. I like the way you made the analogy to it being a "puzzle" and it takes different "pieces" to solve different diseases or problems of the eye. To tell you the truth, Im a bit jealous you got to do research working with ophthalmologists. I bet you learned a lot; it shows you learned a lot! very cool.................
Once I get out of optometry school, I'd want to do a little research myself, just to say I contributed a little to the "puzzle" as well.
thank you for your response.

Anothertony

 

[eyedream82]

anotherTony,

ah, so you got something real deep going on there bro...hope there's a cure for your dad soon.

I really hope that research for the blind is really cooking up out there. As far as i know, there is a lot, and i mean a lot, of vision research going on out there. Glaucoma, macular degeneration, and gyrate atrophy are the three biggies at the lab i worked at this past summer. Anyhow, i just happened to be lucky to have some research hours under my belt. To be honest, i totally hated it. I have very little patient when it comes to spending so much time getting so little results. Thank God for post-docs who got the brain and the hours to do it.

Good luck in Boston. I know it's a great school, but ya might wanna consider is it worth all paying all that tuition.

 

[MPS]

As others have pointed out, neural regeneration goes beyond the induction of centrioles. There is a whole machinery that would need to switch on for retinal & ganglion cells to divide. If we can get them to divide it's then a matter of ensuring that they make the appropriate connections at either "end". There are, however, models of neural regeneration which give us hope: for example some animals have the capability for extensive neural regeneration (e.g. the frog) and humans also show the capability of regenerating appropriately targeted neural tissue (in the olfactory system). Work is afoot to determine how cell division etc. could be turned on in the visual pathway.

In addition to these "biological" approaches, there are bioengineering programs which are looking at interfacing a visual prosthesis with the visual cortex, effectively linking a ?camera? to the brain. It's still early days. though.

 

[Tony.]

eyedream82,

I know not everyone likes doing research. But sometimes its just as important to know what you DONT like doing when you start something. Personally, I'd like to do SOME kind of research, just to get a feel for it, to say that i've been there, done that, just to have something under my belt. I really dont enjoy working in labs...(anyone here remember organic chemistry lab 😕 - Im lucky I didnt blow up something in there.....to make a long story short I'd like to thank MPS for reminding me that cell division isnt so simple! Thank you thank you......I've always hoped my dad could see my face and hopefully with biochemists working on things, they will make it a reality..
Anyhoo, as far as Boston goes, Im not only there to get an education in optometry --Im also there to buy property (apartments, houses etc.) I see things there as an "investment" for my future, not only for my education. I'm not rich! But I know that renting an apartment for 4 years is a waste of money...ya know..?

 

[J.opt]

Originally posted by MPS
...a visual prosthesis with the visual cortex, effectively linking a ?camera? to the brain. It's still early days. though.

I saw something about this on a magazine a couple of years ago, but as you said, it was on early stages.
If you guys have a chance, check out the vision episode of a show called Extreme Senses on the discovery channel. Very, very interesting stuff.

Here's a link: http://dsc.discovery.com/schedule/series.jsp?series=23127&gid=0

 

[Tony.]

hay j.opt!

the weblink you posted-----very cool!

However, I do not get cable. Do you think they are selling those Extreme senses on DVD, CD? It'd be cool to see what the discovery channel has to show on vision....

 

[J.opt]

Originally posted by anothertony
...Do you think they are selling those Extreme senses on DVD, CD? It'd be cool to see what the discovery channel has to show on vision....

I bet they do. That show was awesome; it had a lot to do with the relationship between the eyes and the brain, which is something I have a great interest into. The show is hosted by Nigel Marven.

 

[Tony.]

thank you j.opt !
I'll check out if I can get copies to that discovery show on vision. i think it'll be really interesting to see.
hay! just a few fun facts about the eye:
1. the cornea is the only "breathing" organ besids the lungs
2. its the only place in the body where neurons and blood vessels meet in the same place
3. you can only see 1/6th of the actual eye itself.
4. one blink of the eye takes .3 seconds

( im learning all this at my work as an optometric technician!) you would not believe the things we see!! ( i should really be paying my optometrist! not the other way around )

couple of weeks ago this guy came in b/c he had a papercut in his cornea.
(i guess he was holding some crisp papers in his hand and when he went to take off his cap------eeeek!)

optometrist put a contact lens in and told me his cornea's gonna heal fairly quickly.....amazing !! Im sorry but things like that excite me! I'm gonna make it a point to search for Nigel Marven's show.....i'll let you know and others if its possible to get a transcript of that...

 

[J.opt]

Hey, if you guys get a chance check out a Nova episode called Secrets of The Mind, on PBS. It?s mostly about phantom limbs, but they also talk a lot about how damage on the brain's visual pathways can affect a person?s conscious perception; pretty awesome stuff. If you go to www.pbs.org you may search for reruns of the show.
Here?s the show?s website: http://www.pbs.org/nova/mind/ 😎

 

[Tony.]

Hey, if you guys get a chance check out a Nova episode called Secrets of The Mind, on PBS. It?s mostly about phantom limbs, but they also talk a lot about how damage on the brain's visual pathways can affect a person?s conscious perception; pretty awesome stuff. If you go to www.pbs.org you may search for reruns of the show.
Here?s the show?s website: http://www.pbs.org/nova/mind/ 😎

hmm, my friend told me about this....
I'll have my VCR ready to record.

(p.s - THIS WAS MY FIRST EVER SDN THREAD! I was such a geek! what was I thinking trying to heal the blind.....)

 

[fab4fan]

Don't say that, Tony. You never know what can happen from a idea!

 

[Tony.]

Don't say that, Tony. You never know what can happen from a idea!

True! 👍