NEI Research News

Scientists have found that laser therapy is equivalent to two different dosages of corticosteroid medications for treating vision loss from the blockage of small veins in the back of the eye, a condition known as branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO).

Millions of light-sensitive cells called photoreceptors fill the delicate tissue in the eye known as the retina. These cells include rods that provide night vision and cones that detect color.

Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids protect against the development and progression of retinopathy, a deterioration of the retina, in mice. This is the major finding of a study that appears in the July 2007 issue of the journal Nature Medicine.

Nerve cells that normally are not light sensitive in the retinas of blind mice can respond to light when a green algae protein called channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) is inserted into the cell membranes according to a National Institutes of Health...

An experimental 'rescue' of retinas by treating eyes with certain stem cells has been shown to preserve visual function in mice that were genetically predisposed to degenerative diseases of the retina.

An important clinical trial, sponsored by the National Eye Institute(NEI), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has provided doctors with improved prognostic indicators and treatment options for retinopathy of prematurity.

Modest supplemental oxygen given to premature infants with moderate cases of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), a potentially blinding eye disorder, may not significantly improve ROP, but definitely does not make it worse, according to researchers funded

A combination of anti-HIV drugs appears to help rejuvenate the immune systems of people with AIDS and prevent progression of cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis, a potentially blinding AIDS-related eye complication.

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have discovered a substance that allows people with uveitis, a potentially blinding eye disease, to stop or reduce the need for powerful drugs.

A combination of two antiviral drugs is more effective than either drug alone for controlling recurrences of a blinding eye infection common in people with AIDS, according to new clinical trial results from a federally-sponsored study.