The long-term goal of this research is to elucidate how aging and intraocular pressure (IOP) influence retinal ganglion cell (RGC) degeneration in glaucoma and to leverage this knowledge to identify novel therapies based on neuronal protection, repair, and regeneration. This is an important goal, since all of vision is encoded by action potentials propagated along RGC axons in the optic projection. These axons degenerate steadily from adulthood to death and are susceptible early in glaucoma. Axonal signals are determined primarily by excitatory, glutamatergic synapses summed and integrated in the RGC dendritic arbor. The objective here is focused on understanding how RGC axon degeneration in the optic projection in aging and glaucoma relates to synapse degradation in the retina. To gain this understanding, experiments will test a novel central hypothesis: that early axonal stress due to aging and IOP induces self-repair and adaptive remodeling of the RGC synaptic complex to prolong signaling, similar to homeostatic plasticity of excitatory synapses in other systems. This dynamic relationship stands in stark contrast to the most prevalent current hypothesis in which early and irrevocable synaptic and dendritic pruning drives RGC axon loss. A series of rigorous, quantitative and functional assays will test this remodeling hypothesis by leveraging both chronic (DBA2J) and inducible (microbead occlusion) models of glaucoma. Experiments in Aim 1 will vary IOP and map changes in synaptic and cytoskeletal components to dendritic complexity and axonal function for different RGC types.
Aim 2 will assess how synaptic and dendritic changes for RGC types characterized by axon function depend on age and whether aging influences the response to elevated IOP. Finally, Aim 3 will use established transgenic tools to modulate axonal and somatic degeneration and determine for key ages and IOPs whether dendrites and synapses in individual RGC types are conserved or undergo remodeling independently. These innovative studies combining neurochemical, morphological, and physiological measures will enrich the understanding of how synaptic and axonal activity interrelate at the molecular level and lay the foundation for novel therapeutics based on neuronal self-repair.
Glaucoma is the leading age-related cause of irreversible blindness worldwide and will afflict an estimated 80 million people by 2020. The disease causes optic nerve degeneration with aging and sensitivity to ocular pressure, but lowering pressure does not always stop progression. The work proposed here will test how a novel mechanism for self-repair in the retina might slow optic nerve degeneration in both normal aging and in glaucoma by remodeling lost retinal activity.
