{"id":2000130946,"date":"2026-10-31T17:53:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T15:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/?p=2000130946"},"modified":"2026-10-31T14:00:29","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T12:00:29","slug":"scientists-uncover-surprising-role-of-vitamin-a-in-development-of-sharp-human-vision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/scientists-uncover-surprising-role-of-vitamin-a-in-development-of-sharp-human-vision\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists uncover surprising role of vitamin A in development of sharp human vision"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The discovery offers new insights into how human eyesight develops before birth and could eventually contribute to research into treatments for conditions that cause vision loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), examined the foveola, a small area located at the centre of the retina that enables people to see fine details, read and recognise faces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Led by Associate Professor Robert J. Johnston Jr., the researchers used laboratory-grown miniature human retinal tissues, called organoids, to study how cells in the eye develop over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their observations revealed that during early fetal development, some cells that initially detect blue light may change into cells responsible for detecting red and green light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The transformation is influenced by retinoic acid, a substance derived from vitamin A, and thyroid hormones, which play important roles in regulating growth and development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researchers found that retinoic acid helps organise the developing retina by restricting the formation of blue-light-sensitive cells in its central region. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, thyroid hormones appear to trigger some of the remaining blue-sensitive cells to develop into red- and green-sensitive cells.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The discovery challenges a long-standing scientific explanation, which suggested that blue-sensitive cells simply moved away from the centre of the developing retina without changing their function.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, the new findings indicate that some of these cells may undergo a transformation, adopting different roles as the eye develops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This is a key step toward understanding the inner workings of the center of the retina, a critical part of the eye and the first to fail in people with macular degeneration,” Johnston said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The findings could help advance future research into treatments for vision-threatening conditions, including macular degeneration and glaucoma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scientists hope that further improvements in laboratory-grown retinal tissues could eventually make it possible to develop specialised light-sensitive cells capable of replacing those damaged by eye diseases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the technology is still at an experimental stage, and further studies will be necessary to determine whether it can safely and effectively restore vision in patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research provides new insight into the biological processes that enable the human eye to develop the ability to distinguish fine details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Researchers have discovered how vitamin A and thyroid hormones contribute to the development of sharp human vision.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have discovered how a vitamin A derivative and thyroid hormones work together to shape the part of the human eye responsible for the sharpest vision, challenging a scientific explanation that has stood for about three decades.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":2000130948,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"archived_slugs":[],"footnotes":"","igh_game_id":0},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"byline":[201],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000130946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","byline-rania-umutoni"],"bylines":[{"id":201,"name":"Rania Umutoni","slug":"rania-umutoni","description":"","image":{"id":2000122457,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/08\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-08-14-at-12.00.00-PM.jpeg","title":"WhatsApp Image 2026-08-14 at 12.00.00 PM","mime_type":"image\/jpeg"},"user_id":139,"twitter_handle":""}],"contributors":[{"id":201,"name":"Rania Umutoni","slug":"rania-umutoni","description":"","image":{"id":2000122457,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/08\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-08-14-at-12.00.00-PM.jpeg","title":"WhatsApp Image 2026-08-14 at 12.00.00 PM","mime_type":"image\/jpeg"},"user_id":139,"twitter_handle":""}],"featured_image":{"id":2000130948,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/10\/light-blue-iris-eye-close-up.webp","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/webp","width":1920,"height":1080,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/10\/light-blue-iris-eye-close-up-150x150.webp","width":150,"height":150},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/10\/light-blue-iris-eye-close-up-300x169.webp","width":300,"height":169},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/10\/light-blue-iris-eye-close-up-768x432.webp","width":768,"height":432},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/10\/light-blue-iris-eye-close-up-1024x576.webp","width":1024,"height":576},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/10\/light-blue-iris-eye-close-up.webp","width":1920,"height":1080}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000130946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000130946"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000130946\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000130990,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000130946\/revisions\/2000130990"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000130948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000130946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000130946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000130946"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000130946"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000130946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}