Canadian researchers may have found a treatment for aniridia, a group of congenital malformations that includes the partial or total absence of the iris.

 

The researchers found that Ataluren, taken in the form of eye drops, restored the vision of mice with this malformation. The anomaly is caused by a genetic mutation that interrupts with the production of a protein essential to eye development. Ataluren seems to short-circuit this mutation, thus restarting the production of the protein.

                                                                                         

At first, the researchers believed that Ataluren would work only during pregnancy in order to prevent the disease from showing up in the fetus. However, they came to see that the drug, administered to two-week-old babies as eye drops, reversed the damage caused by the disease.

                      

“We were amazed to see how malleable the eye is after birth,” said Cheryl Gregory-Evans, associate professor of ophthalmology. “This holds promise for treating other eye conditions caused by nonsense mutations, including some types of macular degeneration. And if it reverses damage in the eye, it raises the possibility of a cure for other congenital disorders.”

 

Source:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/12/131220143230.htm

 

                                                                                                      

 

Researchers believe they have identified a potential therapy for meibomian gland dysfunction.

 

“We discovered that azithromycin, an antibiotic, can directly stimulate the function of human meibomian gland epithelial cells,” said researcher Yang Liu, first author of the paper published in JAMA Ophthalmology.

 

This antibiotic is already the most commonly prescribed treatment for meibomian gland dysfunction in the United States. However, its effectiveness had not yet been scientifically demonstrated, and its use for this purpose is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Doctors have presumed that this antibiotic would be effective, due to its anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial actions, which may suppress posterior blepharitis and curb the growth of eyelid bacteria.

 

“We hypothesized that azithromycin could act directly on human meibomian gland epithelial cells to stimulate their differentiation, enhance the quality and quantity of their lipid production, and promote their holocrine secretion. Our results support this hypothesis,” said Dr. David Sullivan.

Source:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/12/131223181151.htm

 

Essilor Canada Ltd and Riverside Opticalab Ltd recently announced a new partnership.

 

Essilor confirmed that it has acquired a certain stake in Riverside Opticalab, but does not wish to release the exact amount. “We do not think of it as an acquisition, but as a partnership. Riverside will continue to operate as an independent, stand-alone entity. The agreement with Essilor will simply give them access to a wider range of products, which will add to their own products, such as the Persona line,” says Sylvie Pelletier, Essilor Canada’s vice-president of finance.

 

Founded in 1976 and based in Ottawa, Riverside Opticalab manufactures and sells optical solutions. In a press release, Essilor described the partnership as an “important step” in the development of products and services that benefit Canada’s optical industry.

Source:

http://www.essilor.ca/SiteCollectionDocuments/Press/Annonce%20du%20partenariat%20Essilor-Riverside.pdf

 

 

For the first time ever, British researchers have successfully printed cells from the eye using 3D printing. The researchers printed ganglion cells and glial cells.

 

The researchers showed that these printed cells remained healthy and could survive and grow in culture. This technological breakthrough could lead to the production of artificial tissue grafts made from the variety of cells found in the human retina and could help in the development of treatments to cure certain forms of blindness.

 

In their study, the researchers used a piezoelectric inkjet printer that ejected the cells through a sub-millimetre diameter nozzle when a specific electrical pulse was applied. “In order for a fluid to print well from an inkjet print head, its properties, such as viscosity and surface tension, need to conform to a fairly narrow range of values. Adding cells to the fluid complicates its properties significantly,” stated a member of the team, Dr. Wen-Kai Hsiao.

 

The team now plans to pursue the study by printing other cell types and will investigate whether light-sensitive photoreceptors can be successfully printed using inkjet technology.

 

Source:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/12/131218100227.htm 

 

 

 

A team of international researchers has made some important advances in understanding the formation mechanisms of cataracts.

 

This type of discovery could help prevent cataracts. “That’s the dream, and this is a big step,” said Rachel Martin, associate professor at University of California at Irvine. “Understanding the molecular mechanism of what goes wrong in the eye that leads to a cataract could lead to the development of better treatment options, including more sophisticated artificial lenses and drugs.”

 

The eyes are able to see clearly due to three types of proteins in the crystalline lens, which maintain transparency by delicately balancing the attraction and rejection of light. The main role of one of these three proteins is to prevent the other two from agglomerating into cataracts when they are modified by a genetic mutation, UV rays or chemical damage.

 

Researchers observed that this protein attaches itself with much more strength to mutated proteins in an effort to keep the crystalline lens clear. However, the human eye contains only a limited amount of this protein. When it disappears, the two other proteins agglomerate rapidly and form cataracts. By demonstrating this mechanism from the molecular point of view, researchers are hopeful that organic chemists might be able to develop treatments to prevent these agglomerations and thus preserve vision.

Source: 

http://eyesmart.com.au/allnews/oaonews/4303-researchers-reveal-groundbreaking-new-findings-on-how-cataracts-form