Mitochondrial dysfunction in the optic nerve, which transmits light signals to the brain and is important for vision, can eventually lead to cell loss and tissue damage, causing many eye diseases. such as glaucoma, macular degeneration and other retinal lesions. This is the first comprehensive study to look at FPF changes in the optic nerve in patients with different stages of glaucoma compared with healthy eyes.
“Glaucoma is difficult to diagnose in its early stages, and physicians often struggle to confirm subtle signs of progression in advanced stages. Principal Investigator Richard B. Rosen, Physician, Associate President and Director of Ophthalmic Research at NYEE and Director of Retina Services for the Mount Sinai Health System.
A team of researchers used the OcuMet Beacon – a locus camera with special filters that specifically isolates fluorescence, developed by OcuSciences Inc. – to analyze 86 eyes. Fifty eyes had glaucoma, based on thinning of the retinal fibrous layer, and 36 had no disease.
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They found that FPF, an indicator of mitochondrial oxidative stress, was significantly higher in glaucoma eyes than in normal eyes, especially in early-stage glaucoma cases where lesions were difficult to detect. The degree of fire protection correlates with other means of glaucoma detection including mean visual field deviation, visual field pattern deviation, and retinal nerve fiber layer thickness.
These results suggest that FPF can be used clinically to reliably and objectively detect metabolic evidence of glaucoma lesions, limiting the need for routine visual field testing. often, the gold standard for measuring visual function. In fact, the researchers say, fire protection may be a more accurate measurement, as visual fields have several drawbacks — they are subjective, fluctuating as the patient pays attention, and the patient can You may lose focus during this assessment.
“Previous studies have demonstrated that when mitochondrial oxidative stress is alleviated with medication or surgery, flavoprotein fluorescence levels are reduced,” explains Dr. Rosen. a first indicator for monitoring glaucoma progression for patients and physicians.”
The researchers say their next step is to see if FPF can reliably monitor the effectiveness of the therapy for glaucoma patients, to see when the treatment has flattened. risk curve progression in severe cases, as well as identifying patients who require early intervention for glaucoma.
Source: Eurekalert
