Whole Eyeball Transplant

[BioHazard0898]

Hey guys! 

SO, I'm embarking on a journey to do research on how to do a whole eyeball transplant. I sound crazy, but I'm supposed to do this-I feel it in my soul.That being said, I do have a few ideas but I just need help from the medical/science community. Let me know what you think, or if you've got any ideas!

[MigL]

How wold you splice the optic nerve and keep it functional ?
I think that's still beyond medical abilities.

[iNow]

And at least transplant with something better like a cybernetic eye with iphone quality camera and night vision...

[Phi for All]

https://www.afb.org/aw/17/3/15352

Quote

 

"Over time we were able to regenerate increasingly longer nerve fibers in mice with damaged optic nerves," he reports. "Unfortunately, the new neural fibers did not transmit impulses, known as action potentials, all the way from the eye to the brain, so there was no new vision."

He and Fagiolini traced the problem to the fact that the new nerve fibers were growing without the fatty sheath called Myelin. Myelin insulates nerve fibers and keeps neural signals on track, much as the insulation surrounding a copper wire directs electrical current to the lamp instead of into the wall studs and outlets.

 

Replacement/reconstruction of a myelin sheath to insulate nerves seems like one place to start. As a sufferer of peripheral neuropathy, I encourage any efforts that help in this area. Nerve fibers need this fatty coating, otherwise the signals are untrustworthy, and it sounds like it's preventing work on reattachment of the optic nerve. 

[MigL]

You don't need to convince me.
I've lost all vision in my left eye due to ganglion damage ( where the optic nerve curves into the back of the eyeball, the 'cup' area ) from Glaucoma
And even after filtering operations, medication is barely keeping pressures in check in my right eye.

re-growing these nerve cells would restore my vision.

[StringJunky]

3 hours ago, MigL said:

You don't need to convince me.
I've lost all vision in my left eye due to ganglion damage ( where the optic nerve curves into the back of the eyeball, the 'cup' area ) from Glaucoma
And even after filtering operations, medication is barely keeping pressures in check in my right eye.

re-growing these nerve cells would restore my vision.

And my hearing.

[Phi for All]

A synthetic compound, sobetirome, which promotes remyelination in central nerve fibers, was tested recently with some success: https://insight.jci.org/articles/view/126329

Apparently they've had success with various thyroid hormones in the past, but the side effects were unacceptable. 

[Curious layman]

https://www.mivision.com.au/2016/01/australia-s-bionic-eye/

Quote

Three Australians with retinitis pigmentosa will be implanted with a bionic eye this year when the second clinical trial of an Australian developed and manufactured bionic eye commences. This trial will be supported by Bionic Vision Technologies (BVT), a commercial spinoff from the successful Bionic Vision Australia (BVA) research consortium (2010–2016). Commercialisation may still be five to seven years away but according to Dr. Lauren Ayton, Bionic Eye Clinical Research Team Leader and Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Eye Research Australia (CERA), it will be worth the wait.

 

[CharonY]

On 11/1/2019 at 1:16 PM, Phi for All said:

A synthetic compound, sobetirome, which promotes remyelination in central nerve fibers, was tested recently with some success: https://insight.jci.org/articles/view/126329

Apparently they've had success with various thyroid hormones in the past, but the side effects were unacceptable. 

There are a couple of new promising targets which may assist in remyelination, which are involved in diseases such as multiple sclerosis.  Of course, getting them to work in vivo in a targeted way is one challenge, another is to to avoid demyelination by ongoing inflammatory responses. Much of it is still preclinical, unfortunately. Also remyelination probably won't help once the neurons are already damaged.