All articles tagged with #cone photoreceptors
Johns Hopkins scientists show that blue cones in the developing foveola are converted into red and green cones by retinoic acid (a vitamin A–derived signal) and thyroid hormones, rather than migrating away. This mechanism explains how the eye achieves sharp central vision and could improve lab-grown retinal tissue and enable future cell therapies for macular degeneration and other vision losses.
Scientists screened ~2,700 compounds in ~20,000 human retinal organoids and found that inhibiting casein kinase 1 (CK1) protects cone photoreceptors from degeneration, a key factor in vision loss from diseases like macular degeneration. Some compounds were harmful, but two kinase inhibitors consistently preserved cone cells across stress conditions and were validated in a mouse model. The team also released a detailed open dataset on tested compounds and targets to accelerate retinal research and development of safer, central-vision therapies.