Bazan research yields blindness breakthrough
Published: April 11, 2006
Dr. Nicolas Bazan, Boyd professor and director of the Neuroscience Center of Excellence at LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, believes fish oil can keep you from going blind.
Bazan’s findings on the role omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil play in protecting retinal cells from degenerative diseases like retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration — the leading cause of loss of vision in those older than 65 — were published in the most recent Trends in Neuroscience.
Bazan said blinding eye diseases cause photoreceptor cells (rods and cones) to degenerate and die. One of the most significant protective factors may be the close association of retinal pigment epithelial cells and the amount of docosahexaenoic acid in them. The RPE cells maintain our photoreceptors.
Photoreceptor and RPE cell types are normally exposed to potentially damaging factors such as sunlight and high oxygen tension. How the cells avoid damage from these factors and others has been a mystery.
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