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Sight restored by turning back the epigenetic clock

Neurons progressively deteriorate with age and lose resilience to injury. It emerges that treatment with three transcription factors can re-endow neurons in the mature eye with youthful characteristics and the capacity to regenerate.
  1. Andrew D. Huberman

    1. Andrew D. Huberman is in the Department of Neurobiology and the Department of Ophthalmology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305, USA.

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Ageing has negative consequences for all the cells and organs in our bodies. Our brains are no exception. Neurons in the developing brain form circuits that can adapt to change and regenerate in response to injury. These capacities have long been known1 to diminish over time, but the molecular shifts that underlie this deterioration have remained mysterious. Lu et al.2 show in a paper in Nature that neurons of the eye can be programmed to revert to a youthful state in which they reacquire their ability to resist injury and to regenerate. The authors’ findings shed light on mechanisms of ageing and point to a potent therapeutic target for age-related neuronal diseases.

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Nature 588, 34-36 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-03119-1

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