Year: 2023
Type: article
Abstract: Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness, and around 2.7 million cases of Glaucoma are diagnosed every year. Glaucoma is when excess aqueous humor fluid in the eye causes high intraocular eye pressure within the eye, which damages the optic nerve overtime. In a healthy eye, the aqueous humor is drained by the trabecular meshwork, a specialized tissue located in the drainage angle of the eye. The trabecular meshwork allows aqueous humor to flow out of the eye through a network of channels and spaces, which helps to maintain the balance of the production and drainage of the fluid, regulating the intraocular eye pressure. When the trabecular meshwork is damaged, it leads to a buildup of the fluid which leads to increase in intraocular eye pressure. Early stages of glaucoma have limited symptoms and it is diagnosed by measuring intraocular eye pressure which has many limitations and difficulties. Therefore, an alternative method, such as looking at a biomarker, would prove more efficient and valuable. Since glaucoma inflicts optic nerve damage and retinal ganglion cell loss overtime, treatments are reactive as opposed to preventive. Using a biomarker to predict when glaucoma will occur can be a game changer in curing the disease more effectively. This research paper looks at lipid biogenic as a biomarker for high intraocular eye pressure, a key sign and effect of glaucoma. Understanding the expression and regulation of lipids in the Trabecular meshwork of the eye is integral in diagnosing glaucoma early in patients, so that treatment can start sooner. Trabecular meshwork cells were taken from a mouse, goat, and pig sample, and lipid expression was analyzed while these cells were under different levels of stress. The hypothesis is that if the TM cell is under more stress, the lipid levels will be under expressed, because lipids are an important factor in regulating intraocular pressure homeostasis, along with aqueous humor drainage. Therefore, a lower expression of lipids in TM cells points towards the patient having abnormally high intraocular eye pressure, effectively having glaucoma. In conclusion, the data points towards lipids being a biomarker towards identifying high intraocular eye pressure. There is a clear correlation between decreased lipid biogenic pathway expression and overstressed trabecular meshwork cells. This research was conducted at the Marilyn Eye Glick Institute in Indiana University under the supervision of Dr. Pattabiraman.
Institution: Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis
Language: English
Subfield: Ophthalmology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W4387121265