Temporal Progression of Visual Injury from Blast Exposure
Abstract
The purpose of this grant is to investigate the temporal progression of eye injury from blast exposure and identify early predictors of visual dysfunction. The studies performed in the previous year have shown that blast exposure (approx. 225 kPamagnitude) in a rat model leads to time-dependent ocular pathology changes over the course of eight weeks. Specifically, we have found that the behaviorally assessed visual acuity of blast exposed animals is significantly degraded following blast exposure. The decrease in visual ability is statistically significant when comparing blast-exposed animals to their baseline, preblast visual ability results. The decrease is also significant when comparing control and blast exposed animals at each time point after exposure. These deficits first become significant at two weeks after blast, and do not resolve by the end of the study. The visual acuity findings appear to be initially attributed to immediate retinal damage following blast exposure, but corneal injury also contributes to vision degradation several weeks after the initial blast exposure. We also found early biomarkers of corneal damage that could lead to treatment opportunities for corneal scarring.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2016
- Accession Number
- AD1020693
Entities
People
- Brittany Coats
- Daniel Shedd
Organizations
- University of Utah