New nanoparticle injection gives mice near infrared light vision
A recent study done by a team of researchers from China and the University of Massachusetts discovered mice are able to obtain near infrared light vision when injected with nanoantennae. Infrared light has longer wavelengths and is lower in energy which makes it difficult for the human eye to see. Our regular human vision can only see so much of the electromagnetic spectrum. With this new technology, the mice were given a greater amount of night vision. There were two groups, an experimental and control group. The experimental group was injected with the nanoparticles. Scientists injected the protein like droplets into the mice which allowed nanoantennae to attach to the outside of the retinal photo receptors. Nanoantennae is designed to absorb light wavelengths and make use of that infrared radiation. Once the nanoparticle attached to the photo receptor, the near infrared light was turned into a green light because the brain interprets the images as visible light. What happened next that the scientists did not expect was that the mice obtained the NIR pattern which differentiates shape patterns and could even do it in daylight. The mice in the experimental group had this ability for the next two weeks but then it wore off without any side effects. This experiment was an advancement in mammal near infrared vision and the lengths this can be taken to.
This topic in research is very interesting and I did not know much about it before I read it. I did not know there was a large amount of light and visual images we do not see because of how long the wavelengths are. This new biological technology gave mice greater visual lengths which humans are not able to do own their own. If humans were given ability to see at night and a greater amount of the electromagnetic spectrum it would benefit us in a number ways. We would have a lot less trouble doing a multitude of things that are considered out of the norm. However, is this is just the beginning and there is more research to be done to even consider actual testing on humans. The nanoparticle allowed the near infrared light vision in mice to see more but it wore off after 10 days. Researchers need to look at the longer side effects it could have on vision. If this were to be injected every 10 days it wore off than it could produce a higher risk of side effects. There is more to be considered and new research to done but I do think it could be done.
http://www.sci-news.com/biology/mice-infrared-vision-06960.html
This is a very interesting topic. I am curious to learn how the effects wore off - were the nano-particles treated as cell waste and carried away? Injection every 10 days would definitely increase the risk of side effects, but it would be interesting to find out how these would effect how the brain interprets visual signals, especially if used in the long term. For example, with "lazy eyes" the brain will slowly cut off the signals of the affected eye because it is causing problems with visual interpretations and your visual acuity decreases. If left untreated, blindness in that eye can occur. It would be interesting to see if certain parts of the human visual field, or observable color spectrum, or something like that would be effected after having "night vision" for an extended amount of time.
ReplyDeleteYes, it was treated as cell waste and then later carried away. When the article was published, they had done it for only two months for 10 days with no long or short term side effects. I would have to do further research to find out if there were any other long term effects and whether it would cause problems with vision. Blindness is definitely something the researchers should have considered as a possible effect.
DeleteI think its interesting that the mice were given a greater amount of night vision and were able to differentiate shape patterns. I know we talked about vision in class with visible light being 300nm to 800nm but I'm curious if this injection would be safe to give to humans to improve our night vision. According to techcrunch.com, the nanoantennae can be combined with proteins that encourage them to bind with the photoreceptive cells in our retinas. The injected nanoantennae did not interfere with natural visible light vision. I thought this research was interesting but I'm interested in knowing if this injection is safe for humans and if it could be given in another form.
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ReplyDeleteI wonder if this technology would have side effects on sleeping. If a human is given night vision through this technology, how would that affect the circadian rhythm that has been discussed in the Brain Rules book as well as different psychology classes? I searched this idea and found this article: https://sleep.med.harvard.edu/news/356/Green+Light+Affects+Circadian+Rhythm In this article, the researchers found that green light could be just as stimulating as blue light; especially in low levels of light. This suggests that having night vision from nanotech would affect our sleep patterns. However, the effects of green light wear off faster than the effects of blue light. So certainly, blue light would be more harmful for our sleep cycles but having green night vision through nanotech could harm our sleep and change our circadian rhythm.
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