Vision Integrating Strategies in Ophthalmology and Neurochemistry (VISION)
Abstract
This is the second year annual report for the VISION (Vision Integrating Strategies in Ophthalmology and Neurochemistry) project at UNTHSC. We currently have 6 PIs, 6 postdoctoral fellows, 5 graduate students, and 3 research technicians actively involved in this very ambitious project. In combat situations, traumatic eye injuries are frequent, leading to irreversible damage to the visual axis. The overall goal of the VISION project is to discover neuroprotective strategies in three separate mouse models of injury to the visual axis, in order to identify potential candidates for the treatment of combat eye injuries and preserve vision in our injured warfighters. We have established three different mouse models of ocular injury with different injury-initiating mechanisms (i.e. optic nerve crush, retinal ischemia/reperfusion, and chronic ocular hypertension). We have developed techniques to quantify damage to the retina, optic nerve, and visual axis in the brain (i.e. superior colliculus) that are damaged in these three models. We are testing neuroprotective agents and strategies, including neuroprotective estrogens, sigma-1 agonists, Brn3b, inhibitors of Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), and inhibitors of protein stress to determine their efficacy in protecting the retina, optic nerve and superior colliculus from the damage induced by each of the 3 models. In addition, we are also evaluating time dependent, injury-induced changes in gene expression in the effected tissues to identify the major pathogenic pathways involved in order to develop new therapeutic approaches for neuroprotection and neuroregeneration. In the following report, we highlight the considerable progress made in this second year, including total neuroprotection by a JNK inhibitor in our model of retinal ischemia/reperfusion injury.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 01, 2012
- Accession Number
- ADA606200
Entities
People
- Thomas Yorio
Organizations
- University of North Texas Health Science Center