Biomechanical damage to the optic nerve head (ONH) is a key aspect of glaucoma pathophysiology. And the biomechanical environment within the ONH is complex and may be directly related to the loss of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in glaucoma.
Ace Therapeutics focuses on understanding more about the role of biomechanics in glaucoma pathophysiology, providing researchers with services to characterize the biomechanics of the ONH. This will help us learn more about the link between biomechanics and RGC death in glaucoma, as well as potentially advance the development of new therapies for glaucoma.
Biomechanical Environment within ONH
Fig. 1 Schematic diagram of a histological section of the ONH. (Schwaner Stephen A, et al., 2020)
The connective tissue elements of the ONH, primarily the lamina cribrosa (LC) and the peripapillary sclera (PPS). These elements provide most of the structural support for the ONH in the face of IOP. The biological properties of the ONH depend on macroscopic and microscopic structural factors. Macrostructural factors include various parameters of the LC and PPS. On the other hand, microstructural factors depend on the extracellular matrix (ECM), which determines the properties of the tissue material.
In summary, variations in all these factors affect the biomechanical properties of ONH tissues. This determines what happens to the strain experienced by ONH tissue under elevated IOP. Therefore, understanding the specific biomechanical properties will help us to explore the in-depth mechanisms of glaucoma.
Services for Biomechanical Studies of Optic Nerve Head in Glaucoma
Our services are focused on characterizing ONH biomechanics, using animal models to address the biomechanical impact of glaucomatous ONH injury. By building multi-scale biomechanical models of glaucoma, we can better understand the mechanisms of glaucoma damage from molecular to cellular to tissue.
Table 1. Our specific services for biomechanical studies of ONH.
| Procedure | Specific Description |
|---|---|
| Animal procedure | All experimental procedures are performed in accordance with guidelines for the care and use of animals. You can choose from commonly used animal models such as rats, mice, rabbits and other rodents. Or you can choose and construct new animal models. You can choose the subjects that fit your experiments based on the strengths and limitations of different species. Multiple models can help you address the diversity of ONH anatomy and functional research questions in glaucoma. |
| Strain analysis | We can create systematic biological descriptions of your ONH samples, including but not limited to RGC axons, connective tissue geometry morphometry measurements, biomechanics, etc. It is also possible to design experiments to assess the strain of stress on ONH-related tissues. |
Why Choose ONH Biomechanics?
The eye can be considered as a biomechanical structure because many of its functions involve biomechanics. Therefore, understanding the biomechanics of the eye is very important for the prevention and treatment of glaucoma. More specifically, our work aims to investigate the biomechanics of ONH,
- To determine the causes of glaucoma.
- To find a way to prevent and treat glaucoma.
Our laboratory seeks to develop advanced experimental methods and models to investigate the relationship between the mechanical properties and physiological functions of ONH in glaucoma. Contact us to collaborate in furthering the understanding of the pathogenesis of glaucoma and the development of therapies.
References
- Schwaner Stephen A, et al. Factors affecting optic nerve head biomechanics in a rat model of glaucoma. R. Soc. Interface. 2020, 17:20190695.
- Korneva A, et al. Biomechanics of the optic nerve head and peripapillary sclera in a mouse model of glaucoma. R. Soc. Interface. 2020, 17:20200708.
- Cheri, et al. Biomechanical aspects of axonal damage in glaucoma: A brief review. Experimental Eye Research, 2017.