Preservation Of Vision Following Optic Nerve Damage: A Clinical Review Loss of vision resulting from optic nerve damage impacts millions worldwide and, currently has relatively limited treatment options. The research has focused on different aspects of optic nerve damages — its reasons, after-effects and emerging discoveries to help it heal for restoring vision; let me walk you through each aspect in this article.
What You Need to Know About Damage of Optic Nerve
The optic nerve is essential for conveying visual intelligence from the retina to the brain. Trauma, ischemia and diseases such as glaucoma can damage the optic nerve. The general consensus has been that once the optic nerve is injured, recovery of vision will not occur because its fibers do not regenerate13.optic nerve damage (ad)
Irreversibility of Damage
There are currently no effective treatments to restore or regenerate the optic nerve when it has been compromised. All of this has caused us to agree that visual impairment from maladies, for example, ischemic optic neuropathy (ION) is regularly hopeless25. The intrinsic incapacity of mammalian retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) to regenerate poses a much more significant impediment in the treatment of optic nerve disease 1.
Novel Research and Treatments
More… Recent research has begun to question that idea of irreversible irreversibility. Studies have shown that, under certain conditions such as in the case of NTG RGCs can be kept alive and made to regenerate their axons7. For example, nuclear factor erythroid 3 (Nfe3), a protein linked to the better regrowth of nerve cells in animal models4. If this activity of various microglial populations can be manipulated, as might be expected from an evolutionarily conserved function in inflammatory responses to promote repair, then a future possibility for therapeutic treatments is clear.
Neuroprotection and Neurorepair
In the development pipeline, two roughly complementary strategies to treat ON and other optic neuropathies exist: neuroprotection (to prevent RGC death) and neurorepair (to induce axon regeneration). 1 Research is being done on approaches including gene therapy and molecular pathways controlling nerve cell survival. If successful, these strategies may represent significant progress toward restoration of vision from optic nerve injury.
Conclusion
While there is often the message that optic nerve damage cannot be reversed, recent advancements in research suggest that treatments are on the horizon which might be able to regenerate and restore vision. However, the ability to restore vision following optic nerve injury remains one of several frontiers in medical science as researchers push forward with new and innovative approaches.
