Nanotech helps blind hamsters see

BBC News

Nanotechnology has restored the sight of blind rodents, a new study shows.
Scientists mimicked the effect of a traumatic brain injury by severing the optical nerve tract in hamsters, causing the animals to lose vision.

Nerve growth (shown in green) occurred after the injections

After injecting the hamsters with a solution containing nanoparticles, the nerves re-grew and sight returned. Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team hopes this technique could be used in future reconstructive brain surgery. Repairing nerve damage in the central nervous system after injury is seen as the ultimate challenge for neuroscientists, but so far success in this field has been limited.