Japanese scientists develop compound that could hinder glaucoma

Researchers from Kyoto University in western Japan claim they have developed a compound that could hinder the development of glaucoma, a disease characterized by loss of vision due to progressive damage to the optic nerve.

The compound increases the amount of adenosine triphosphate, a substance essential for nerve cells, which is present in smaller amounts in damaged cells than in healthy cells.

The team of Japanese scientists carried out tests on mice with glaucoma and high eye pressure, giving them the compound daily for 10 months, reported the Asahi Shimbun newspaper Tuesday.

Test subjects given the compound recorded a maximum 20 percent loss of nerve cells in that period, while those who did not receive the mixture recorded a loss of more than 60 percent.

The team led by Associate Professor Hanako Ikeda from the University’s Graduate School of Medicine plans to begin tests with humans at the end of the year.

However Ikeda will begin studying the possible toxic effects and effectiveness of the compound on patients with acute vision disorders, and not on those patients suffering glaucoma.

This is because glaucoma is a condition that develops very slowly and so the effects of treatment can not be determined in a shortterm clinical study, the team explained to the Japanese daily.

The scientists hope to begin tests on glaucoma within the next five years.