New research published in Aging Cell determines that aging plays a key role in retinal ganglion cell death in glaucoma, and that new glaucoma treatments could potentially target novel visual pathways.
Tell me about the study.
Investigators from the University of California, Irvine, sought to understand changes in stress response between younger and older mice in an experimental model of ocular hypertension.
What did they find?
They observed how stress in the eye—intraocular pressure (IOP) being a large factor—led to transcriptional and epigenetic changes in retinal tissue, which mirrored the occurrence of natural aging. In younger retinal tissue, repeated stress caused accelerated aging—including the accelerated epigenetic (based on DNA methylation levels) age. (via)
How does IOP play a role?
While investigators already knew long-term IOP fluctuation to be a strong indicator for glaucoma progression, they determined that such fluctuations can directly lead to retinal tissue aging and, as a result, vision loss.
Take home.
The authors stressed the need for early diagnosis, prevention, and age-specific management for age-related diseases such as glaucoma. They concluded that, in addition to measuring declining vision and structural changes in the eye, they can now gauge the epigenetic age of retinal tissue to determine how to prevent vision loss in aging.