10 Hours after death, eyes still react to light: Major breakthrough for blindness cure

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): Can a person see this world even after death? Can our eyes sense light even several hours after death? These things may sound like a story from a science fiction film, but a recent claim by scientists has astonished the entire world. Such a miracle has happened in the world of medical science, which is difficult to believe easily. A new research has revealed that a person's eyes can respond to light even 10 hours after his death. This miracle of scientists has awakened a new ray of hope for millions of blind people around the world.

How did life return to the eyes 10 hours after death?

There is a layer called retina in the back part of our eye, whose main function is to capture light and convert it into signals and send it to our brain. Usually, as soon as a person dies, the blood flow in the body stops, due to which the retina stops getting oxygen and it immediately stops working. But scientists of the Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG) created a system in the lab which works exactly like the blood circulation of the human body. Through this system, scientists delivered oxygen and essential nutrients to the retina of the donated eyes. The result of this unique experiment was that even 10 hours after death, the retina started responding to the brightness of light.

Can a person really see after death?

This startling discovery doesn't mean that a person will regain their sight after death or that a dead person will regain their eyesight. Scientists have clarified that the retina was functioning outside the body, supported by a machine. Since the eye wasn't connected to the human brain, a dead person couldn't consciously see. This is simply a scientific process that successfully kept cells alive in the lab.

This will be a big help in removing blindness

Even though this miracle may not restore sight to a dead person, this discovery could prove to be a great boon for millions of people suffering from serious and incurable eye diseases. Scientists have found that this new technology can preserve the structure of the retina for up to 24 hours. This will give doctors more time to conduct in-depth research on the human retina in the laboratory. Until now, scientists used to test eye medicines on animals, but now they will be able to see the effect of new medicines and treatments directly on the human retina. This will be of great help in finding accurate treatments for serious diseases like macular degeneration due to aging and vision loss due to diabetes.

Will complete eye transplant be possible in the future?

Scientists believe this discovery represents a major and historic step toward vision restoration in the future. However, transplanting an entire eye and reconnecting it to the fine nerves of the human brain remains a significant challenge for medical science. Nevertheless, this research has given doctors around the world confidence that blindness may be eradicated permanently in the future.