Gene therapy of the human retina levels of light. What follows often is the death of cone cells, responsible for color vision and acuity, at light levels present during the day. Loss of cones leads to full blindness as early as five years old, but may not onset until many years later. There have been multiple hypotheses about how the lack of rod cells can lead to the death of cone cells. Pinpointing a mechanism for RP is difficult because there are more than 39 genetic loci and genes correlated with this disease. In an effort to find the cause of RP, there have been different
Retina of the forkhead transcription factors FOXD1 and FOXG1. Additional gradients are formed within the retina that aid in proper targeting of RGC axons that function to establish the retinotopic map. The retina is stratified into distinct layers, each containing specific cell types or cellular compartments that have metabolisms with different nutritional requirements. To satisfy these requirements, the ophthalmic artery bifurcates and supplies the retina via two distinct vascular networks: the choroidal network, which supplies the choroid and the outer retina, and the retinal network, which supplies the retina's inner layer. At first glance, one may think that the vertebrate retina