What is our approach to regenerating the optic nerve?
We are developing electric field application into a technology to direct optic nerve regeneration. What are electric fields? Electric fields are naturally generated in our body and are used by our body to direct activities including wound healing and tissue patterning during development.
Electrical Fields Direct Retinal Ganglion Cell Axon Growth Towards the Cathode
We have previously shown that RGC axons grow towards the cathode when cultured in the presence of an electric field.
Here you see a time lapsed video of how readily we can manipulate the growth of retinal ganglion cell axons with electric fields. In the left panel, you can see an axon growing towards the negative electrode (black negative sign) which sits on top. In the right panel, you can see what happens when we change the polarity of the electric field by 180 degrees. Remarkably, within 15 mins, the axon makes a U-turn to redirect its growth towards the new negative electrode at the bottom of the page. It is experiments like these that tell us that electric fields could be harnessed into a technology to regenerate the optic nerve.
In Vivo Application of Electrical Fields Directs Retinal Ganglion Cell Axon Regeneration
We hypothesize that if we can generate an electric field along the optic nerve, that we can use this electric field to regenerate the optic nerve.
Indeed, our experiments show that electric fields direct optic nerve regeneration after crush injury. The pictures below show optic nerves that have been crushed; the white dots are regenerated axons. Electric field #3 directs more regeneration than electric field #1.
