Targeting retinal thinning may hold promise for Neuroprotection studies

Feng L, Shen J, Jin X, Li J, Li Y.The Evaluation of the Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer in Multiple Sclerosis with Special-Domain Optical Coherence Tomography.Ophthalmologica. 2013 Sep. [Epub ahead of print]

Background/Aims: Retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thinning has been observed on histopathology and time-domain optical coherence tomography in many diseases of the central nervous system. In this study, with a higher resolution of spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SDOCT), we detected RNFL changes in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) in China, and compared RNFL thickness between eyes with and without optic neuritis (ON). Methods: In this retrospective, nonrandom case study, the patients were recruited from the Affiliated Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital of Zhejiang University. RNFL thickness was measured for each eye using SDOCT. The controls were recruited from the healthy population. Results: Peripapillary RNFL thickness of 24 eyes in 12 patients was detected by SDOCT. The average RNFL thickness of the MS patients was 81.9 ± 17.8 µm compared to the control value of 102.1 ± 8.1 µm (p = 0.00). The average RNFL of the patients with a history of ON was thinner than that of patients without ON (71.8 ± 19.2 µm vs. 92.0 ± 8.5 µm, p = 0.001). Conclusion: The RNFL thinning in Chinese patients with MS can be detected by SDOCT. The SDOCT scan represents a high-resolution, objective, noninvasive and easily quantifiable in vivo biomarker of MS

So it is clear that the retina of Msers is thinning compared to non-MSers and there is more thinning if the MSer had a history of MS. This study in Chinese MSers confirms that which has been found in North American and european MSers. This is due to nerve damage in the optic nerve tracking back into the eye. So targeting the visual pathway to look for neuroprotective drugs seems a good idea and this is being done as we speak in a few different trials

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