Scientists have suggested literally throwing gold dust into the eyes to treat age-related blindness

Eye medicine is poised to reach a new level. A number of degenerative retinal diseases, including age-related changes, have been proposed to be treated with minimal surgical intervention. This is achieved by a relatively simple injection of gold dust into the eye, which is then excited by an infrared laser and stimulates neurons under the retina. Experiments on mice have shown encouraging results – the animals began to see after being blind.

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The study was conducted by a group of scientists from Brown University in Rhode Island, USA. They were looking for a way to relatively easily restore vision after age-related or traumatic damage to the retina. The alternatives are serious, but not guaranteed success, treatments, as well as various implants and intense illumination, which can completely destroy the remains of vision.

The solution proposed by scientists is already in use to some extent and involves thermal stimulation of neurons directly under the retina. The visual signal bypasses the damaged photoreceptors and acts directly on the neurons, which in turn transmit information to the brain.

Image source: ACS Nano 2025

To do this, nanometer-sized gold dust is injected into the vitreous body of the eye between the lens and the retina — essentially into the gel. Each speck of dust is coated with antibodies to the Thy1 protein. This is necessary for the gold particles to interact with the cell membranes of neurons. Then a laser beam in the near infrared range is directed into the eye, which forms an image by directly exciting neurons under the retina due to the heating of the gold particles. The image can be transmitted by a camera built into smart glasses.

An experiment with half-blind mice with artificially damaged retinas showed that the proposed method allowed vision to be restored. The mice will not tell how well it was restored, but the results are encouraging. There is a long way to go to test the method on people to avoid possible harm. If successful, the technology will be able to restore vision to millions of elderly people – simply and painlessly.