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Editors Selection IGR 13-2
Clinical Forms of Glaucoma: Pathogenesis POAG and PEG
Comment by Daniel Won-Kyu Ju on:
46687 Antioxidant status and oxidative stress in primary open angle glaucoma and pseudoexfoliative glaucoma, Erdurmus M; Yagci R; Atis O et al., Current Eye Research, 2011; 36: 713-718
Growing evidence indicates that oxidative stress contributes to the etiology of glaucomatous optic neuropathies. In this excellent study, Erdurmus et al. (1434) reported that a decreased antioxidant defense system and increased oxidative stress may play an important role in the pathogenesis of primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) and pseudoexfoliative glaucoma (PEG). To determine the role of both antioxidant status and oxidative stress in the development of glaucoma, they measured serum levels of total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) as indicators of antioxidant system, as well as total oxidant status (TOS) and nitric oxide (NO), protein carbonyl (PC) and malondialdehyde (MDA) as indicators of oxidative stress.
Boosting the antioxidant defense system and/or inhibiting oxidative stress may be useful therapeutic strategies to fight vision loss in glaucoma
The authors demonstrate that while serum TAC level was significantly decreased in both patients with POAG and PEG compared with controls, serum SOD, TOS and MDA levels were significantly increased. Interestingly, serum NO level was significantly higher in patients with POAG but there was no difference in patients with PEG. Further, serum PC level was significantly higher in patients with PEG but there was no difference in patients with POAG, suggesting that protein oxidation may play a role in the pathogenesis of PEG. Although there are limitations of specific specimens and further studies are necessary to confirm other markers for antioxidant defense system and oxidative stress in glaucoma patients, these findings importantly support the idea that boosting the antioxidant defense system and/or inhibiting oxidative stress may be useful therapeutic strategies to fight vision loss in glaucoma.
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