Sunday, December 06, 2020

Researchers restore lost sight in mice, offering clues to reversing aging

Amazing stuff!

"... The study suggests that hallmarks of aging, and possibly the keys to reversing it, lie in the epigenome, the proteins and other compounds that decorate DNA and influence what genes are turned on or off. ...
The idea that aging cells hold a memory of their young epigenome “is very provocative,” ...
The team focused specifically on neurons at the back of the eye called retinal ganglion cells. ... There’s a stark divide between youth and age in these cells: An embryonic or newborn mouse can regenerate the optic nerve if it gets severed, but that ability vanishes with time. ...
The injection prevented some damaged retinal ganglion cells from dying and even prompted some to grow new axons reaching back to the brain, the team reports today in Nature. ..."

"Ageing is a degenerative process that leads to tissue dysfunction and death. A proposed cause of ageing is the accumulation of epigenetic noise that disrupts gene expression patterns, leading to decreases in tissue function and regenerative capacity. Changes to DNA methylation patterns over time form the basis of ageing clocks ...
Using the eye as a model CNS [Central Nervous System] tissue, here we show that ectopic expression of Oct4 (also known as Pou5f1), Sox2 and Klf4 genes (OSK) in mouse retinal ganglion cells restores youthful DNA methylation patterns and transcriptomes, promotes axon regeneration after injury, and reverses vision loss in a mouse model of glaucoma and in aged mice. "

Researchers restore lost sight in mice, offering clues to reversing aging | Science | AAAS Researchers reversed damage to the mouse eye ... by genetically reprogramming neurons that make up the optic nerve.

Here is the respective research paper:

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