Blunt trauma from car accidents contribute to optic nerve damage and blindness.  Glaucoma is also responsible for similar optic nerve damage. It is known to be the second worldwide cause of blindness.

The September 2025 issue of Experimental Neurology features a report suggesting that it is possible to restore damage to optic nerves that will regrow towards the brain, as reported by the National Eye Institute, part of the NIH.

It has been well established that severed nerves usually do not grow back.  However, recent findings by scientists at Dartmouth and Connecticut University led by Ephraim Trakhtenber and his four associates indicate that their newly developed treatment may reverse nerve damage.

Injectable Peptide

The team was able to regrow the damaged optic nerves in mice using an injectable peptide. The nerve cells regrew from the injured area to the brain’s optic charisma which controls body rhythms and senses light.

 The Benefit of Inflammation

Inflammation in the eye prior to injury will create nerve cell regrowth.  Yet this attempt at treatment is not practical in humans for various reasons.  The goal then was to focus on how inflammation creates regeneration.

The scientists discovered that:

• inflammation draws immune cells called macrophages that in turn secrete
• the fibronectin protein.

Researchers from the two universities conducted a series of experiments and found that fibronectin has a critical role in growth and differentiation. It is also involved in wound healing and embryonic development.

In biology, differentiation refers to the process where cells, initially unspecialized, become distinct cell types with unique structures and functions.  This process is essential for development in multicellular organisms.

By continuing their experiments, the team learned that fibronectin appeared to encourage the growth of optic nerve cells. When nerve cells interact with fibronectin, they grow but, on the contrary, nerve cells do not grow without protein.  Due to the low levels of fibronectin in areas surrounding nerves, there is very little interaction between nerve cells and fibronectin.

The situation with macrophages is similar as the majority of eye injuries do not generate a sufficient amount of inflammation to attract macrophages.

In addition, doctors are not able to inject fibronectin, a large protein, in the eye area.

Not a Setback but a Challenge

The team did not consider these obstacles to be setbacks. They were a challenge.  The scientists broke the fibronectin into segments comparable to peptides that are easy to inject.  The next step was to take the peptide with the most reliable interaction to optic nerve cells, joining them to form the injectable peptide.

The new peptide was synthesized and injected into the eyes of mice that had injuries to optic nerves.

Impressive Results

In six weeks, the optic nerves had dense regrowth in the damaged areas while the nerve cells spread to the brain’s optic chiasm.

Immediate and Future Planning

Presently the team is focusing on conducting longer trials to determine the extent of growth for regenerated nerve fibers and to see if they can reach the part of the brain that is responsible for sight.

Another goal is to conduct experiments that attempt to improve nerve regrowth beyond what has been established to date.

Clinical trials will be scheduled at a later date.  The work received support from the National Eye Institute.

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