Antioxidant drug therapy approaches for neuroprotection in chronic diseases of the retina.

ABSTRACT: The molecular pathways contributing to visual signal transduction in the retina generate a high energy demand that has functional and structural consequences such as vascularization and high metabolic rates contributing to oxidative stress. Multiple signaling cascades are involved to actively regulate the redox state of the retina. Age-related processes increase the oxidative load, resulting in chronically elevated levels of oxidative stress and reactive oxygen species, which in the retina ultimately result in pathologies such as glaucoma or age-related macular degeneration, as well as the neuropathic complications of diabetes in the eye. Specifically, oxidative stress results in deleterious changes to the retina through dysregulation of its intracellular physiology, ultimately leading to

SUBMITTER: Payne AJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3958826 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature