There are some things that people cannot heal from. For some, it's emotional damage, and for others, it's something physical. There exists damage that, for as long as mankind has existed, has no cure. Incidents like losing a limb are one of them, and even more so, it can be quite devastating when the irreparable damage that some of us have to face it the loss of one of our five senses. Granted, a couple of the five senses that will be lost are worse than others, but just like technology, so too does science change with discovery. With our scientific research discovering more ground, there may be hope to restoring one of your senses yet.
With advances in science and technology, scientists made a discovery involving stem cells and a transplant experiment on mice. According to Counselheal.com, scientists discovered that the use of stem cells may be able to help cure blindness as a transplant experiment was performed on mice and had recorded results of the stem cells replacing the damaged photoreceptors in their eyes. The study was led by Masayo Takahashi and Michiko Mandai, two scientists from the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Japan. The procedure and tests were able to restore almost half of the sight in mice in the study. The mice had end-stage retinal degeneration, but the sight had been restore for almost half of them a month after the transplantation.
According to Explorestemcells.co.uk, the leading cause for blindness in older adults is due to macular degeneration. When the mice were experimented on, stem cells were injected into the rear of their eyes where the photoreceptors were damaged. Since the photoreceptors are the small important cells found in the retina, they determine one's ability to see things and are sensitive to the light. It was a surprise to the researchers when they found that more mature stem cells were able to form into photoreceptors, thus replacing the damaged ones. Despite our advancements in curing blindness still being unrefined and inaccurate, all is not lost. This new development shows that hope for curing blindness is one step closer thanks to the results from the study, and that in the future, perhaps some things will no longer be as permanent as we thought they would be.
