Positive Stress Can Prevent Nerve Damage Eyes

Positive Stress Can Prevent Nerve Damage Eyes - Stress is usually considered a negative thing. However, a study showed that some types of stress can make the cells become more resilient to injury and illness.

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine have discovered a treatment that can prevent nerve damage caused by glaucoma. Glaucoma is a disease of the nerve damage is a major cause of blindness worldwide.

Researchers increased the resistance of the optic nerve cells of rats that had suffered damage by making the rats are in stressful conditions, which expose it to the environment with low oxygen levels. Stress due to low oxygen environments evoke a protective response and makes nerve cells more robust and less vulnerable to injury.

Research published in the journal Molecular Medicine is the first study to show that the ability of the nerves in the environment can tolerate the stress of protecting itself from damage.

Scientists previously assumed that the protective effect only lasts a few days. However, Jeffrey M. Gidday, PhD, professor of neurosurgery and the eyes of Washington University School of Medicine has developed a way to extend the protective effect of a matter of days to months.

By creating mice in low-oxygen conditions over several times over the past two weeks, Gidday can prolong the effect such protection. After conditioning the ends, nerves will be protected from damage for at least 8 weeks.

"Once we found that the protective effect can be extended, we wondered whether this extension can also protect the nerve from injury and damage that characterizes the disease of nerve damage," he said as quoted Medicalxpress.com Gidday, Wednesday (04/04/2012) .

To find out, Gidday tried researching this conditioning of glaucoma, a disease caused by increased pressure of the fluid that fills the eyeball. The current glaucoma treatment is to reduce the fluid pressure, but does not protect the retina and optic nerve from damage.

Glaucoma is classified as a disease of nerve damage due to slowly kill retinal ganglion cells. These cells are located in the retina of the eye and form the optic nerve. A growing number of dead ganglion would make the retina is not functioning so that the patient is reduced vision and eventually become blind.

In this study, mice made to have glaucoma by binding to vessels that allow fluid to flow from his eyes. Result in increased eye pressure. Researchers then looked at how many ganglion cells are still intact after 3-10 weeks.

The researchers found that normal mice lost an average of 30% ganglion after having glaucoma for 10 weeks. But rats are exposed to low oxygen conditions prior glaucoma surgery only lost 3% ganglionnya.

"Previous research has shown that there are hundreds of genes that maintain viability in the DNA, but these genes are not active. When this gene is activated, the protein in it can make the cells much more robust in the face causing injury or damage. Identifying gene- These genes will specifically help the development of drugs that can activate these genes, "said Gidday.

Currently, neuroscientists are conducting clinical trials to see if stress can reduce brain damage after severe injuries such as stroke, brain hemorrhage or trauma.