[Regeneration of the optic nerve-Will it one day be reality?]

Adult mammalian and human neurons of the central nervous system (CNS) lack the ability to spontaneously regenerate damaged axons. This dilemma of many CNS diseases is still an unsolved problem.

The purpose of this article is to examine the question which options have been investigated in more detail in recent years and offer approaches.

A web-based search of all articles published between 1958 to the present regarding regeneration of retinal ganglion cells was carried out.

Over the last three decades it has been shown that axonal regeneration is possible under certain conditions when intrinsic and extrinsic factors are manipulated in retinal ganglion cells and in the optic nerve. Although there is still a long way to go, experimental regenerative approaches are already visible; however, it will take several years or decades before these can be approximately implemented in practice.