Pharmacological Neuroprotection for Glaucoma

Overview

Journal Drugs

Specialty Pharmacology

Date 2007 Mar 28

PMID 17385943

Citations 21

Authors

Glyn Chidlow

John P M Wood

Robert J Casson

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Glaucoma represents a group of neurodegenerative diseases characterised by structural damage to the optic nerve and slow, progressive death of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). Elevated intraocular pressure is traditionally considered to be the most important risk factor for glaucoma, and treatment options for the disease have hitherto been limited to its reduction. However, visual field loss and RGC death continue to occur in patients with well controlled intraocular pressures and, thus, a consensus has recently emerged that additional treatment strategies are needed. One such strategy is pharmacological neuroprotection, which in the context of glaucoma, refers to the situation in which a drug is deployed to interact with neuronal or glial elements within the retina/optic nerve head and thereby facilitate the survival of RGCs. The advent of animal models of chronic glaucoma has enhanced our understanding of many of the pathological processes occurring in glaucoma and, in doing so, described logical targets for pharmacological intervention. Such targets, which have been manipulated with varying degrees of success in relevant animal paradigms include glutamate receptors, autoimmune elements, neurotrophin deprivation, nitric oxide synthesis, oxidative stress products, sodium and calcium channels, heat shock proteins and apoptotic pathways. With exciting data now emerging from many research laboratories, it is obvious that pharmacological neuroprotection for glaucoma without doubt represents an exciting development in the search for a treatment modality for this debilitating disease.

Citing Articles

Loss of Stim2 in zebrafish induces glaucoma-like phenotype.

Baranykova S, Gupta R, Kajdasz A, Wasilewska I, Macias M, Szybinska A Sci Rep. 2024; 14(1):24442.

PMID: 39424970 PMC: 11489432. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-74909-0.

Purinergic-Glycinergic Interaction in Neurodegenerative and Neuroinflammatory Disorders of the Retina.

Harsing Jr L, Szenasi G, Zelles T, Koles L Int J Mol Sci. 2021; 22(12).

PMID: 34201404 PMC: 8228622. DOI: 10.3390/ijms22126209.

Neuroprotective effects of exogenous erythropoietin in Wistar rats by downregulating apoptotic factors to attenuate N-methyl-D-aspartate-mediated retinal ganglion cells death.

Cheng W, Lin I, Feng K, Chang Z, Huang Y, Lu D PLoS One. 2020; 15(4):e0223208.

PMID: 32302311 PMC: 7164594. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0223208.

Neuroprotective Effect of Magnesium Acetyltaurate Against NMDA-Induced Excitotoxicity in Rat Retina.

Lambuk L, Jafri A, Nor Arfuzir N, Iezhitsa I, Agarwal R, Rozali K Neurotox Res. 2016; 31(1):31-45.

PMID: 27568334 DOI: 10.1007/s12640-016-9658-9.

Glaucoma: recent advances in the involvement of autoimmunity.

Rizzo M, Greco A, De Virgilio A, Gallo A, Taverniti L, Fusconi M Immunol Res. 2016; 65(1):207-217.

PMID: 27475096 DOI: 10.1007/s12026-016-8837-3.

References

Henneberry R, Novelli A, Cox J, Lysko P . Neurotoxicity at the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor in energy-compromised neurons. An hypothesis for cell death in aging and disease. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1989; 568:225-33. DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1989.tb12512.x. View

Quigley H, Addicks E, Green W, MAUMENEE A . Optic nerve damage in human glaucoma. II. The site of injury and susceptibility to damage. Arch Ophthalmol. 1981; 99(4):635-49. DOI: 10.1001/archopht.1981.03930010635009. View

Kudo H, Nakazawa T, Shimura M, Takahashi H, Fuse N, Kashiwagi K . Neuroprotective effect of latanoprost on rat retinal ganglion cells. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol. 2006; 244(8):1003-9. DOI: 10.1007/s00417-005-0215-0. View

Yoles E, Wheeler L, Schwartz M . Alpha2-adrenoreceptor agonists are neuroprotective in a rat model of optic nerve degeneration. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 1999; 40(1):65-73. View

Kaiser H, Flammer J, Stumpfig D, Hendrickson P . Longterm visual field follow-up of glaucoma patients treated with beta-blockers. Surv Ophthalmol. 1994; 38 Suppl:S156-9; discussion S160. DOI: 10.1016/0039-6257(94)90060-4. View

Fisher J, Levkovitch-Verbin H, Schori H, Yoles E, Butovsky O, Kaye J . Vaccination for neuroprotection in the mouse optic nerve: implications for optic neuropathies. J Neurosci. 2001; 21(1):136-42. PMC: 6762428. View

Fuchsjager-Mayrl G, Wally B, Rainer G, Buehl W, Aggermann T, Kolodjaschna J . Effect of dorzolamide and timolol on ocular blood flow in patients with primary open angle glaucoma and ocular hypertension. Br J Ophthalmol. 2005; 89(10):1293-7. PMC: 1772863. DOI: 10.1136/bjo.2005.067637. View

Kanamori A, Nakamura M, Nakanishi Y, Nagai A, Mukuno H, Yamada Y . Akt is activated via insulin/IGF-1 receptor in rat retina with episcleral vein cauterization. Brain Res. 2004; 1022(1-2):195-204. DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2004.06.077. View

Tatton W, Chen D, Chalmers-Redman R, Wheeler L, Nixon R, Tatton N . Hypothesis for a common basis for neuroprotection in glaucoma and Alzheimer's disease: anti-apoptosis by alpha-2-adrenergic receptor activation. Surv Ophthalmol. 2003; 48 Suppl 1:S25-37. DOI: 10.1016/s0039-6257(03)00005-5. View

10.

Honkanen R, Baruah S, Zimmerman M, Khanna C, Weaver Y, Narkiewicz J . Vitreous amino acid concentrations in patients with glaucoma undergoing vitrectomy. Arch Ophthalmol. 2003; 121(2):183-8. DOI: 10.1001/archopht.121.2.183. View

11.

Pang I, Johnson E, Jia L, Cepurna W, Shepard A, Hellberg M . Evaluation of inducible nitric oxide synthase in glaucomatous optic neuropathy and pressure-induced optic nerve damage. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2005; 46(4):1313-21. DOI: 10.1167/iovs.04-0829. View

12.

Quigley H, Hohman R, Addicks E, Green W . Blood vessels of the glaucomatous optic disc in experimental primate and human eyes. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 1984; 25(8):918-31. View

13.

Quigley H, Green W . The histology of human glaucoma cupping and optic nerve damage: clinicopathologic correlation in 21 eyes. Ophthalmology. 1979; 86(10):1803-30. DOI: 10.1016/s0161-6420(79)35338-6. View

14.

Wamsley S, Gabelt B, Dahl D, Case G, Sherwood R, May C . Vitreous glutamate concentration and axon loss in monkeys with experimental glaucoma. Arch Ophthalmol. 2005; 123(1):64-70. DOI: 10.1001/archopht.123.1.64. View

15.

. Comparison of glaucomatous progression between untreated patients with normal-tension glaucoma and patients with therapeutically reduced intraocular pressures. Collaborative Normal-Tension Glaucoma Study Group. Am J Ophthalmol. 1998; 126(4):487-97. DOI: 10.1016/s0002-9394(98)00223-2. View

16.

Cooper R . Gin(kgo) and tonic--with a twist!. J Altern Complement Med. 2003; 9(5):599-601. DOI: 10.1089/107555303322524409. View

17.

Quigley H, Pease M, Kerrigan D, Mitchell R . Number of ganglion cells in glaucoma eyes compared with threshold visual field tests in the same persons. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2000; 41(3):741-8. View

18.

Cheung Z, So K, Lu Q, Yip H, Wu W, Shan J . Enhanced survival and regeneration of axotomized retinal ganglion cells by a mixture of herbal extracts. J Neurotrauma. 2002; 19(3):369-78. DOI: 10.1089/089771502753594936. View

19.

Chung H, Harris A, Kristinsson J, Ciulla T, Kagemann C, Ritch R . Ginkgo biloba extract increases ocular blood flow velocity. J Ocul Pharmacol Ther. 1999; 15(3):233-40. DOI: 10.1089/jop.1999.15.233. View

20.

Blair M, Pease M, Hammond J, Valenta D, Kielczewski J, Levkovitch-Verbin H . Effect of glatiramer acetate on primary and secondary degeneration of retinal ganglion cells in the rat. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2005; 46(3):884-90. DOI: 10.1167/iovs.04-0731. View