Research identifies mechanisms underlying glaucoma

Feb 12, 2022

Montreal (Canada), Feb 12 (ANI): Glaucoma is the non-curable blindness that affected 80 million people worldwide in 2020. Reduced blood flow and impaired neurovascular coupling are well-known features of glaucoma. The mechanisms underlying these abnormalities have now been unveiled, thanks to new research by a team led by Adriana Di Polo, professor of neuroscience and ophthalmology at Universite de Montreal. The study was published in the 'Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences'. The findings by Luis Alarcon-Martinez and Yukihiro Shiga, both postdoctoral fellows in Di Polo's laboratory and first co-authors of the study, reveal that nanotubes connecting pericytes are damaged in glaucoma leading to neurovascular deficits. Pericytes are cells that have the ability to control the amount of blood passing through a single capillary simply by squeezing and releasing it. They are wrapped around the capillaries, the thinnest blood vessels in all organs of the body. In living animals, as in humans, the retina uses the oxygen and nutrients contained in the blood to function properly. This vital exchange took place through capillaries.