Nanotechnology for vision restoration

Degenerative retinal dystrophies, such as retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration, cause the progressive loss of retinal photoreceptors, which leads to blindness. Thus far, pharmacological treatments have failed to cure or effectively block the progression of these diseases. One possible solution is to replace photoreceptors with retinal prostheses; however, inorganic electronic devices have not yet achieved satisfactory results in replicating natural vision. Nanotechnology, benefitting from low invasiveness and wireless stimulation, may overcome many of the challenges presented by electronic retinal devices. In particular, nanoparticles can be engineered to harvest and transduce light energy into bioelectricity, mimicking the behaviour of natural photoreceptors. In this Review, we discuss nanotechnology strategies for vision restoration, highlighting nanomedicine approaches in relation to clinically applied therapeutic strategies for retinal degeneration. We further explore the clinical potential of nanotechnology for vision restoration and the challenges that remain to be overcome.