University of Wisconsin–Madison

Research

It is not possible to successfully transplant whole eyes from a donor to a recipient, mostly because removal of the donor eye damages the optic nerve and stimulates the process of axonal degeneration and retinal ganglion cell death.

Side-by-side slides of a frozen retina that compares methods.

Optic nerve damage, including the damage produced by ocular hypertension in glaucoma, causes the degeneration of ganglion cell axons in the optic nerve and the death of these cells in the retina. The result in mammals is irreversible blindness.

Retinal ganglion cells, the cells that are damaged in glaucoma, are highly receptive to gene therapy using adeno-associated virus-mediated gene delivery.

Red blooming retina under a microscope.
Four slides showing the progression/evulsion of dendritic arbors of ganglion cells. Black background. Gray dendritic structure with sporadic splotches of red and bright green.

Mitochondrial health plays a huge role in the resilience of neurons to damaging conditions and retinal ganglion cells are no exception.

A principal goal in developing a neuroprotective strategy is to block the death of the cells and also have them retain normal function.

Before and after slides of damaged optic nerve. Progression of purple and fuchsia spots on a black background.