Overexpression of the BDNF gene protects RGC as estimated by axon counts in a rat glaucoma model, further supporting the potential feasibility of neurotrophic therapy as a complement to the lowering of IOP in the treatment of glaucoma.
A model of partial optic nerve transection in rats showed rapid loss of directly injured RGCs in the superior retina and delayed, but significant secondary loss of RGCs in the inferior retina, whose axons were not severed. The findings confirm similar results in monkey eyes and provide a rodent model in which pharmacologic interventions against secondary degeneration can be tested.
Bone marrow-derived MSCs can deliver NTFs by intravitreal injection and can be neuroprotective after ONT. This approach might be further studied to deliver NTFs by autotransplantation in glaucomatous eyes.
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