Wild-type CRALBP was expressed in E.coli, affinity purified, loaded with 9-cis retinal and used for ex vivo and in vivo experiments.
CRALBP nanoparticles deliver 9-cis-retinal to rod photoreceptors in chromophore-deficient isolated retinas (A) and intact eyes (B) of Rpe65^-/- mice and promote robust rod response recovery (C) following a complete bleach. This approach directly addresses known pathogenetic drivers of inherited retinal dystrophies (IRD) linked to chromophore deficiency.

This work was carried out in the groups of Prof. Dr. Achim Stocker and Prof. Dr. Vladimir J. Kefalov (University of California Irvine), and was financed by the University of Bern, Switzerland and by NanoRetinal Inc., Princeton, NJ, USA.

References:

• V. J. Kefalov, A. V. Kolesnikov, J. Cullity, W. Aeschimann, A. Stocker;
  ARVO Abstract, 786 - C0387, 2023