Accumulation of abnormal protein – the so-called gamma synuclein in optic nerve neurons contributes to the development of glaucoma and vision loss, the researchers report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Glaucoma is a neurodegenerative disease that damages the optic nerve that sends information from the eyes to the brain and causes blindness.
According to statistics, over 60 million people in the world suffer from glaucoma, and at the same time it is the second leading cause of blindness. The elderly are at the highest risk, but sometimes children are also sick.
Earlier studies suggested that the so-called optic nerve head – where the nerve cells that carry information from the eye to the brain exit.
In their latest work, scientists from the Kennedy Krieger Institute and colleagues from the US, UK and Spain found that the most important cells in the development of glaucoma are astrocytes located near the optic nerve head. In addition, the authors of the study found the presence of an abnormal form of a protein called gamma synuclein – similar to alpha synuclein, that is deposited in the brains of people with Parkinsonism.
What’s more, to their surprise, the researchers found that near the optic nerve head, astrocytes remove debris from neurons that die from glaucoma. Researchers suspect that a similar phenomenon may also occur in the course of other neurodegenerative diseases.
The scientists emphasize that thanks to their work, additional potential targets for the treatment of glaucoma were discovered. At the same time, they emphasize that further detailed studies are necessary to determine at what stage of signal transduction during the development of glaucoma, pharmacological intervention could be possible. (PAP)