Chapter 7: Toxins in the eye?

 As mentioned in previous post, glaucoma is blockage of fluid in the eye, which can elevate intraocular pressures. (IOP) It affects about 40 million people, and it can cause blindness. Both glaucoma and the blindness are irreversible conditions. Although you cannot do anything for the blindness, you can still control glaucoma from progressing and taking away your vision. The disease has been known since the time of Hippocrates and has only been treatable, not curable. The main treatment for glaucoma is usually eye drops that open the blockage or it lowers the production of fluid. When glaucoma is the cause of blindness, it is due to the fact that there are no cells in the optic nerve that are alive.

In this article, there is a hypothesis that reports that glaucoma could be due to a neurotoxin. Researchers at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary have suggested that the neurotransmitter, glutamate, has the potential to be toxic. The job of glutamate is to excite nerve cells during vision but it could also be the reason of apoptosis (cell death). In their study, researchers investigated the levels of glutamate in the fluid in the eyes of glaucoma patients and normal patients. Because it is extremely difficult of obtain fluid from humans, they also did testing on monkeys. It was found that glutamate levels in monkeys with glaucoma were 5 to 6 time higher in comparison to healthy monkeys. The claim is that glutamate is the reason behind the death of nerve cells in the optic nerve. “Glutamate is a neurotransmitter which turns nerve cells on, and gets them firing more rapidly, it literally can stimulate nerve cells to death when too much is present.” 

I thought that this article was very interesting, but also very informative on a reader’s level. It was easy to understand what the main topic and the explanation was straight to the point. The basics of glaucoma and how nerves work was needed to be able to comprehend the reading, but that was provided. The article was able to mention why and why not the hypothesis was logical, which is a good approach to writing this article. It mentions both viewpoints. I personally think that this research will be a breakthrough and will be able to solve some of the many mysteries of glaucoma.

 

Article: http://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/20/us/cause-of-blindness-in-glaucoma-may-be-nerve-toxin-not-fluids.html