Successful Experiment on Squirrel Monkeys Promises Cure for Red Green Color Blindness

A successful experiment on squirrel monkeys promises a cure for red green color blindness.

The monkeys, Sam and Dalton, had been color blind from birth but thanks to scientists at the University of Washington in Seattle and the University of Florida their vision was restored to normal after receiving gene therapy.

People with red green color blindness cannot distinguish between colors in the green-red-yellow part of the spectrum.  It affects about eight per cent of Caucasian males and fewer than one per cent of females.

Researchers injected the monkeys with a virus that had been modified to carry a corrective gene. After treatment, in a touchscreen test the monkeys were able to easily differentiate patterns of grey, green and red dots.

The study was published today in the journal Nature. This experiment, promising a cure for red green color blindness, opens the way for treatment of various genetic eye disorders in humans, including some causing full or partial blindness.