Fish oil component preconditions vision cells to survive future injury or disease

(Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center) A team of LSU Health New Orleans scientists discovered that a component of fish oil not only protects cells critical to vision from potentially lethal initial insults, but also from those that occur in the future. The study showed that the omega-3 fatty acid, DHA, and its derivatives 'precondition' photoreceptor and retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells to survive.