Brain Holds Insight to Glaucoma


According to a recent research study published in this weeks Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences scientists believe they have found that early warning signs of glaucoma can be found within the brain and not the eye. Glaucoma is often left undetected for a considerable amount of time but with an estimated 80 million people expected to be suffering from glaucoma by 2020 the need for treatment is strikingly clear.

The research has been conducted at the Vanderbilt Eye Institute in the United States and lead researcher Dr David Calkins explains that they have discovered one of the first signs of glaucoma injury is in fact in the brain. Glaucoma progresses by the eye becoming overly sensitive to ocular pressure which eventually damages the optic nerve and retina. The vision deterioration begins in the peripheral vision and gradually moves towards the centre, and this is when the sufferer becomes completely blind. However, due to both the retina and optic nerve being a part of the central nervous system, they are both irreplaceable. Thus, if glaucoma is not detected early on it becomes too advanced to treat and will lead to the sufferer becoming visually impaired or blind. Although, this central nervous system role is key in Dr Calkins findings as he states that glaucoma is very much like other central nervous system diseases.

Currently, glaucoma is slowed down by attempting to reduce the ocular pressure in the eye, but with this new study’s findings it shows that they are almost fighting a losing battle. Dr Calkins and team found that the disease works in the reversed way as to what was expected; the connections to the brain are the first to degenerate, with the retina and optic nerve being one of the last things to go in the disease. Thus, detection for the disease needs to come from neuronal activity within the brain at the point where the optic nerve is connected. More research is underway to try and develop a drug that can restore and improve the connection between the brain and the optic nerve.

3rd March 2010

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