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Sasaoka et al. (537) report retinal, optic nerve and LGN findings in two well-characterized monkeys with intra-ocular pressure elevation for 15 weeks, and documented optic nerve head and visual field damage. Visual field defects were apparent as early as two weeks following elevated IOP of approximately 50 mmHg.
Glial cell changes observed in the primate LGN support the role of glia in central visual system neurodegeneration and remodeling in glaucomaThe relationship between RGC density and visual field loss in this study confirms previous findings.1 Neuron LGN changes observed in photographs and by 2D density measurements are in keeping with previous reports using 3D methodology in monkey glaucoma.2,3 Layers driven by the fellow eye served as controls in this study, and altered cell size has been reported in LGN layers connected to the non-glaucoma eye. A novel finding of this detailed work is that increased glial fibrillary acidic protein expression was observed in LGN layers connected to the glaucomatous eye.
The valuable observations reported by these authors in these two thoroughly described glaucoma monkeys should stimulate further multidisciplinary studies to explore visual field and brain changes in glaucoma models and human glaucoma. Glial cell changes observed in the primate LGN support the role of glia in central visual system neurodegeneration and remodeling in glaucoma.