Thread: Color Blindness may soon be gone

Interesting, apparently we are starting to figure how to cure color blindness

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8255112.stm

Scientists say they are a step closer to curing colour blindness using gene therapy.

A US team were able to restore full colour vision to adult monkeys born without the ability to distinguish between the colours red and green.

Nature journal describes the technique used by the researchers at the University of Washington.

Although more studies are needed, the same treatment may work for humans who are colour blind, experts believe.

Full colour

Until now scientists had not thought it was possible to manipulate the adult brain in this way.

It was considered that adding new sensory information, such as the visual receptors necessary for perfect colour vision, could only be done in the earliest years of life when the brain is at its most malleable or "plastic".

But Professor Jay Neitz and his team were able to introduce therapeutic genes into the light-sensing cells at the back of the eye of adult male squirrel monkeys.

The therapeutic genes contained the necessary DNA code to enable the light-sensing cells to distinguish between red and green - something lacking in the male monkeys.

Tests revealed the gene therapy was a success. The male monkeys now possessed the necessary photopigments to see all colours and were able to correctly pick out red from green on computer image tests.

The monkeys were treated over two years ago and their improvement in colour vision has remained stable since.

Professor Neitz's team will continue to monitor the animals to evaluate the long-term treatment effects.

They are hopeful that a similar therapy could benefit people who are colour blind.

Yay! I'm color blind and this would really do a lot for me. Currently I have to slow down when driving in cities at night since the green stoplights and the overhead streetlights tend to look the same color for me.

It is a kind of silent problem, folks can be color blind and you could not know it.

Originally Posted by Anti-Squeaker

it says "i feel sorry for colorblind people"
honest!

Seconded, it really does say that

Interesting, I am actually in school to become an eye specialist so this is right up my alley.

There are a many kinds of color blindness, most of the time it is a problem with the cones inside of the eye. But rarely, it can be a neurological problem where your brain just cannot process the signals being sent properly. It seems like the monkeys have the latter? I couldn't really tell from this article.

There is also hope for curing blindness in patients with an underdeveloped or damaged optic nerve. There have been several human cases where people who were blind were given stem cell treatment and actually regrew part of their optic nerve. Something we thought was impossible until now. If this can be done, theoretically a full eye transplant would also be possible.