The Antioxidant Effect of Routine Vascular Therapy for Normal Tension Glaucoma Patients

There are two accepted medical modalities for glaucoma treatment. The first, is a local application of an intraocular pressure (IOP) lowering drug. The second, is the application of systemic drugs to improve vascular regulation. In the present study we would like to investigate whether this systemic form of treatment, in addition to improving blood flow, also reduces systemic oxidative stress. Vascular dysregulation is one of the major risk factors for glaucoma, in particular for normal tension glaucoma (NTG). In glaucoma patients blood flow is, on average, reduced not only in the eye but also in various other organs of the body, for example in the fingers. Such a systemic dysregulation leads to disturbed autoregulation and thereby to an unstable oxygen supply in the eye.This, in turn, leads to the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). These ROS are capable of damaging cells such as white blood cells; this damage, however, is reversible as nature has provided us with mechanisms to repair this damage. This reversible damage brought about by ROS, which is constantly being repaired in our body, is an indication for oxidative stress. Oxidative stress plays an important role in the pathogenesis of glaucoma. The indications for oxidative stress can be quantified in our laboratory by the method of comet assay also known as single cell gel electrophoresis.