Subretinally injected semiconducting polymer nanoparticles rescue vision in a rat model of retinal dystrophy Maya-Vetenocourt, José Fernando Manfredi, Giovanni Mete, Maurizio Colombo, Elisabetta Bramini, Mattia Di Marco, Stefano Shmal, Dmytro Mantero, Giulia Dipalo, Michele Rocchi, Anna DiFrancesco, Mattia L. Papaleo, Ermanno D. Russo, Angela Barsotti, Jonathan Eleftheriou, Cyril Di Maria, Francesca Cossu, Vanessa Piazza, Fabio Emionite, Laura Ticconi, Flavia Marini, Cecilia Sambuceti, Gianmario Pertile, Grazia Lanzani, Guglielmo Benfenati, Fabio Nanoparticles Retina The work was supported by the Italian Ministry of Health (project RF-2013-02358313 to G.P., G.L. and F.B.), Fondazione Cariplo (project 2018-0505 to G.L., F.B. and G.P.), Compagnia di San Paolo (project 9798 to J.F.M.-V.), H2020-MSCA-ITN 2019 “Entrain Vision” (project 861423 to F.B.) and EuroNanoMed3 (project 2019-132 “NanoLight” to F.B.). The support of the Ra.Mo. Foundation, Rare Partners srl and Fondazione 13 Marzo is also acknowledged. Inherited retinal dystrophies and late-stage age-related macular degeneration, for which treatments remain limited, are among the most prevalent causes of legal blindness. Retinal prostheses have been developed to stimulate the inner retinal network; however, lack of sensitivity and resolution, and the need for wiring or external cameras, have limited their application. Here we show that conjugated polymer nanoparticles (P3HT NPs) mediate light-evoked stimulation of retinal neurons and persistently rescue visual functions when subretinally injected in a rat model of retinitis pigmentosa. P3HT NPs spread out over the entire subretinal space and promote light-dependent activation of spared inner retinal neurons, recovering subcortical, cortical and behavioural visual responses in the absence of trophic effects or retinal inflammation. By conferring sustained light sensitivity to degenerate retinas after a single injection, and with the potential for high spatial resolution, P3HT NPs provide a new avenue in retinal prosthetics with potential applications not only in retinitis pigmentosa, but also in age-related macular degeneration. 2026-02-13T13:30:29Z 2026-02-13T13:30:29Z 2020-08-02 journal article Maya-Vetencourt, J.F., Manfredi, G., Mete, M. et al. Subretinally injected semiconducting polymer nanoparticles rescue vision in a rat model of retinal dystrophy. Nat. Nanotechnol. 15, 698–708 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-020-0696-3 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/110989 10.1038/s41565-020-0696-3 eng info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/MSC/861423 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ open access Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacional Springer Nature