Optogenetics technique for blindness and deafness – ElTiempo.com

Some types of blindness and deafness, forms of superficial pain controlled by the peripheral nervous system, and certain intestinal disorders are the first areas where optogenetics will clinical trials in humans.

so they said Ed Boy-den, Karl Deisseroth and Gero Miesenböck, three neuroscientists who awarded the BBVA Foundation for its contribution to biomedicine to develop novel technique called optogenetics, which aims to decipher how the human brain works, how personality and emotions arise, and seeks to map the ‘wiring’ of the brain and all neural connections , but above all, that claims to cure diseases and disorders whose origin is in this unknown body .

the latest technique is to activate light selected groups of neurons which introduced them a light-sensitive protein. The action can trigger the electrical signal propagates through the neural circuitry or, conversely, inhibit it.

For now, optogenetics is restricted to basic research, but in the United States and is used to treat blindness by retinitis pigmentosa, a disease that destroys the cells of the light-sensitive retina.

the goal, explained biochemist and physician Karl Diesseroth, it is to start other tests “in certain forms of superficial pain originated by the peripheral system, such as pain caused by diabetes or postoperative pain or pain caused by intestinal disorders or stroke. “

In these cases, optogenetics is a less invasive technique that when used in the brain, which so far only been done in animals.

for now, it is not sufficiently developed for use in the brains of people as they the technique requires introducing a fiber optic cable to bring light to the brain, which method before applied to humans to ensure their safety.

in the long term, “the goal is to treat brain diseases, but still we know very little brain. We lack basic understanding, especially of psychiatric illness, but optogenetics can help us understand how the body works, “said Diesseroth.

precisely why ” optogenetics is an exciting technique and a potentially promising area “because” if we know how the brain works, any therapy will be more efficient, effective and safe, “added the scientist.

Meanwhile, Miesenböck (Austria, 1965 ), professor at the University of Oxford (UK), recalled how he had the idea that resulted optogenetics: “Researched then how to display the activity of neurons using light-sensitive protein; a Saturday afternoon, I suddenly got the idea: would not it be incredible not only read brain activity, but also to control their activity? Is that in biology, to understand a need to precisely control system, and it had been impossible in neuroscience. “

EFE