Novel therapeutic strategies for the treatment of neurodegeneration in a genetic model of glaucoma as evaluated by X-ray nano-holotomography

The project aims at studying the potential neuroprotective effects of antioxidants combined with mGlu1 receptor antagonists in experimental models of glaucoma by using X-ray nano-holotomography (XNH-CT). Neuroprotection is highly demanded in glaucoma, where degeneration of Retinal Ganglion Cells (RGC) takes place through different mechanisms. Mitochondrial dysfunction and activation of mGlu1 receptors are involved in degeneration of RGCs. Targeting mitochondria and mGlu1 receptors could be a potential treatment for optic neuropathies where no treatment is available. In previous experiments, we used X-ray micro-CT with a voxel size of 3.0 and 0.33 µm3: we visualized the overall retinal structure and its different layers, but we did not identify single RGCs and their morphological alterations. Here we will use XNH-CT to image and quantify lesions at cellular and subcellular levels in different layers of the retina in experimental models of glaucoma with increased intra-ocular pressure.