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Abstract #6209 Published in IGR 2-2
5-hydroxytryptamine(1A) agonists: potential use in glaucoma. Evidence from animal studies
Osborne NN; Wood JPM; Melena J; Chao HM; Nash MS; Bron AJ; Chidlow GEye 2000; 14: 454-463
Various classes of compounds exist to lower intraocular pressure (IOP) in the treatment of glaucoma. None of them is ideal since some patients respond better than others and the side-effects vary between individuals. New classes of compounds need to be introduced to allow the clinician greater scope for effective treatment of all patients. It is now generally agreed that the cause of ganglion cell dysfunction in glaucoma is likely to be multifactorial and that concentrating solely on reducing IOP is inadequate. Irrespective of the reason for the dysfunction, the future goal must be to attenuate cell death. This may be achieved with drugs that interact with components of the retina, and is termed 'neuroprotection'. Thus, drugs that can both reduce IOP and act as neuroprotectants would be ideal for the treatment of glaucoma. In this article, the authors summarize studies on animals that show serotonergic 5-HT(1A) agonists to both reduce IOP when topically applied to the rabbit eye and blunt the damaging effect to the rat retina and ganglion cells induced by glutamate toxicity or ischemia. Reduction of IOP occurs via stimulation of 5-HT(1A) receptors associated with the ciliary processes. Neuroprotection of retinal neurones appears to involve the interaction of 5-HT(1A) agonists with membrane sodium channels and/or 5-HT(1A) or even possibly 5-HT(1A) or even possibly 5-HT sub(7) receptors. Various 5-HT(1A) agonists are used in patients to treat depression, so classes of these drugs have a proven safety profile for use in patients. The animal studies summarized in this article suggest that 5-HT(1A) agonists need to be considered as a new class of drugs for the treatment of glaucoma.
Dr. N.N. Osborne, Nuffield Laboratory of Ophthalmology, University of Oxford, Walton Street, Oxford OX2 6AW, UK
Classification:
11.8 Neuroprotection (Part of: 11 Medical treatment)
