Dr. Orson Moritz – Learning How to Re-Grow Damaged Photoreceptors
Report from the annual ARVO (Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology) meeting
May 4, 2011 - Many presentations at the 2011 ARVO conference have focused on ways to restore lost vision by repairing or replacing damaged photoreceptors (light-sensitive cells) in the retina. Foundation Fighting Blindness funded scientist Dr. Orson Moritz of the University of British Columbia is conducting studies in this area.
With your donations, Dr. Moritz has bred a strain of frogs with a type of autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa. Dr. Moritz studies these frogs to learn more about how vision loss progresses in people with retinitis pigmentosa and how different environmental conditions can affect their vision. For example, he raises groups of tadpoles under different light conditions to study the impact of light.
The frogs Dr. Moritz studies, called X. laevis, also have the ability to re-grow some parts of the retina when it is damaged. At ARVO, Dr. Moritz presented several pieces of research about how these animals manage to restore vision cells, and the limits of this capacity. For example, Dr. Damian Lee, a postdoctoral fellow training in Dr. Moritz’ laboratory, has shown that the frogs can repair photoreceptors that have been damaged by bright light, but cannot replace cells that the body has deliberately destroyed through apoptosis. (See our fact sheet on anti-apoptosis therapies to learn more about the process of apoptosis).
As Dr. Moritz and his team learn more about the regenerative capabilities of frogs, they hope to be able to apply this knowledge to people. Their goal is to identify therapies that might one day allow human eyes to repair damaged photoreceptors and restore vision.
ARVO Presentations
Comparison of the Regenerative Responses on the Xenopus Laevis Retina after Targeted Ablation of Rod Photoreceptors versus Surgical Removal of Retina. Presented Wednesday May 4, 2011. Orson L. Moritz, Damian C. Lee, Lisa M. Hamm.University of British Columbia, Vancouver
Short and Long-term Changes in the Retina of a Xenopus Laevis P23H Mutant Rhodopsin Model of Retinitis Pigmentosa. Presented Wednesday May 4, 2011.Damian C. Lee, Beatrice M. Tam, Felix R. Vazquez-Chona, William D. Ferrell, Bryan W. Jones, Robert E. Marc, Orson L. Moritz. University of British Columbia, Vancouver and University of Utah/Moran Eye Center, Salt Lake City