Medical Hypothesis, Discovery and Innovation Ophthalmology Journal
Volume:4 Issue: 3, Autumn 2015

Retrospective and prospective studies looking at the role of cerebrospinal fluid pressure (CSFP)/intracranial pressure (ICP) have stimulated new theories and hypotheses regarding the underlying causal events for glaucoma. Most recently, studies supporting a low CSFP/ICP as a risk factor for glaucoma have been published. This review summarizes the current understanding of CSFP/ICP and its potential role in the pathogenicity of the disease.

Diabetic retinopathy is the major cause of blindness among working-age population across the world. Despite the urgent need for research strategic planning in this field, no systematic research has been previously performed analyzing the published research on diabetic retinopathy. The study aimed to analyze the scientific productions on DR for drawing a general roadmap for future research strategic planning in this field. A bibliometric method was used to obtain a view of the scientific production about diabetic retinopathy by data extracted from the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI). Specific parameters were retrieved from the ISI. Articles about diabetic retinopathy published from 1993-2013 were analyzed to obtain a view of the topic’s structure, history, and document relationships. Also, the trends in the most influential publications and authors were analyzed. Most highly cited articles addressed epidemiologic and translational research topics in this field. During the past three years, there has been a trend towards biomarker discovery and also more molecular translational research. Areas such as gene therapy and microRNAs are also among the recent hot topics. Through analyzing the characteristics of papers and the trends in scientific production we performed the first scientometric report on diabetic retinopathy. Most influential articles have been addressing epidemiology and translational research subjects in this field, which reflects that globally, the earlier diagnosis and treatment of this devastating disease still has the highest global priority.

Anterior megalophthalmos is characterized by megalocornea associated with a very broad anterior chamber and ciliary ring elongation. It is also known as X-linked megalocornea. It is accompanied by the early development of cataracts, zonular anomalies, and rarely vitreoretinal disorders. Cataract surgery involves the risk of subluxation of the cataract because zonular weakness. In addition, in most cases, standard IOL decentration is a danger due to the enlargement of the sulcus and capsular bag. Cataract surgery is challenging because of these unique circumstances. Several approaches have been performed to date. Implantation of a retropupillary iris-claw aphakic intraocular lens might be a good option, since it is easier than suturing the IOL and could have better and more stable anatomic and visual outcomes compared with the other techniques.

Glaucoma is the second leading cause of irreversible blindness and a neurodegenerative disease with a complex pathogenesis. Increasing evidence suggests that oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction have crucial roles in most neurodegenerative diseases such as glaucoma. The conventional clinical treatment for glaucoma is lowering the intraocular pressure (IOP). Some patients have normal IOP, whereas other patients appear to obtain adequate control of IOP after filtration surgery or medication. However, these patients still experience progressive visual field loss. Vision field loss in glaucoma is attributed to retinal ganglion cell (RGC) apoptosis. Many recent researches demonstrated that the link between mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress was a major cause of RGCs apoptosis. How oxidative stress leads to RGCs apoptosis in glaucoma is unclear but may involve the neurotoxic effects of oxidative stress-induced mitochondrial dysfunction and/or damage from reactive oxygen species (ROS). Investigations are needed concerning the mitochondria as effective targets for potential therapeutic interventions to maintain mitochondrial function and reduce oxidative stress, and thereby delay or stop RGC loss and prolong visual function. The mitochondria-targeted antioxidant Szeto-Schiller (SS) peptide is a candidate molecule. Szeto-Schiller-31 (H-D-Arg-Dmt-Lys-Phe-NH2) is an attractive mitochondria-targeted antioxidant that can protect the mitochondria and RGCs against oxidative damage. Therefore, we suggest SS-31 as a novel neuroprotective ophthalmic drug for protecting RGCs in glaucoma.