Journal
ACTA NEUROPATHOLOGICA COMMUNICATIONS
Volume 10, Issue 1, Pages -Publisher
BMC
DOI: 10.1186/s40478-022-01427-3
Keywords
Neuroinflammation; Retina; Glaucoma; Histopathology; Optic nerve; Microglia; Astrocytes
Categories
Funding
- Karolinska Institutet
- Vetenskapsradet [2018-02124]
- Karolinska Institutet Foundation Grants for Eye Research
- Karolinska Institutet Research Foundation
- Swedish Research Council [2018-02124] Funding Source: Swedish Research Council
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Neuroinflammation is a crucial component of neurodegenerative diseases. The evidence for neuroinflammation in glaucoma patients is limited. By utilizing well-preserved wax embedded eyes, we confirmed the presence of significant neuroinflammatory responses in the retina and optic nerve head of glaucoma patients.
Neuroinflammation is recognized as a key component of neurodegenerative disease. In glaucoma, a common neurodegenerative disease and the leading cause of irreversible blindness, the evidence for neuroinflammation in patients is lacking. Animal models have demonstrated significant pro-inflammatory activation of resident glia in the retina, as well as influx of blood-derived monocytes and pro-inflammatory factors. Confirmation of this in human donor tissue has been challenging due to a lack of well-preserved and well-characterized post-mortem tissue. To address this we utilize archived, wax embedded eyes fixed immediately following enucleation from living glaucoma patients. We compared glaucoma to control eyes (enucleated for uveal melanoma where the tumor did not impact the central retina or optic nerve). We performed immunolabelling for neurodegenerative and glial markers (CD45, CD163, IBA1, GFAP, Vimentin) which were quantified by high-resolution light microscopy and image analysis in FIJI. Glaucoma eyes demonstrated significant neural loss consistent with advanced neurodegeneration. IBA1 and GFAP were significantly increased in the retina and optic nerve head of the glaucomatous eyes indicating that significant neuroinflammation had occurred which support findings in animal models. Inflammation is a treatable symptom of many diseases and as such, identification of earlier inflammatory processes in glaucoma could be important for potential future treatment options.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available