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IOP increase, ganglion cell loss related to immune potency, animal study
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REHOVOT, Israel — A similar increase in intraocular pressure resulted in differing amounts of retinal ganglion cell loss in different strains of rat in a study here. The disparity in cell loss was correlated to the rats’ immune potency, the study authors said.
This finding may help explain why patients with glaucoma experience different amounts of visual loss in response to pressure lowering, even when the severity of their disease at the time of diagnosis is similar, according to the authors.
Researchers here at the Weitzman Institute of Science induced increases in IOP in rats from two different strains. The IOP was measured weekly, and retinal ganglion cell (RGC) losses were assessed 3 and 6 weeks after the first irradiation. In Sprage-Dawley (SPD) rats that were thymectomized at birth the number of surviving RGCs after an increase in IOP as adults was significantly diminished. SPD rats have a beneficial autoimmune response that can be evoked spontaneously.
The study is published in the August issue of Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science.