In what appears to be a major breakthrough for nanotechnology and nerve regeneration, researchers have used nanoparticles to restore sight to blind hamsters.
The researchers tested their treatment in a model of traumatic brain
injury, severing the optical nerve tract in hamsters to make them blind.
They then injected the hamsters with a nanoparticle solution, which caused their nerves to regenerate and their sight to return.
Reporting in the
Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences, the researchers say the approach could be used in reconstructive brain surgery.
BBC News
reports:
The researchers injected the blind hamsters at the site
of their injury with a solution containing synthetically made peptides
- miniscule molecules measuring just five nanometres long.
Once inside the hamster's brain, the peptides
spontaneously arranged into a scaffold-like criss-cross of nanofibres,
which bridged the gap between the severed nerves.
The scientists discovered that brain tissue in the
hamsters knitted together across the molecular scaffold, while also
preventing scar tissue from forming.