In a recent study, researchers at the LSU Center of Excellence for Neuroscience in New Orleans health and the University of Copenhagen provided the first evidence that patients with high intraocular pressure may show superior antioxidant protection, resulting in increased resistance to glaucoma-related increases in intraocular pressure.Their findings are published online in the Journal of Clinical Medicine.

In general, glaucoma patients are susceptible to elevated intraocular pressure.However, in spite of high intraocular pressure, glaucomatous neurodegeneration is not observed in some patients.

The paper reports on a new mechanism that could explain why patients with high iOP do not develop glaucoma.This is the first study to assess oxidative stress and antioxidants during oxygen stress in patients with normal stress glaucoma and ocular hypertension.

According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, high intraocular pressure (IOP) is when the intraocular pressure (IOP) is higher than normal.

The authors found that patients with high IOP had increased antioxidant capacity and higher levels of omega-3-derived anti-inflammatory chemical messengers involved in maintaining plasma cell function, compared with glaucoma and age-matched patients with normal blood pressure.These rich chemical messengers of omega-3 fatty acids provide antioxidant defense functions and are therefore potentially resistant to elevated intraocular pressure and glaucoma neurodegeneration by eliminating the increase in systemic oxidative stress.

"This study opens the way for therapeutic exploration and highlights the importance of the antioxidant power of the chemical messengers of omega-3 fatty acids as a potential diagnostic biomarker and as a new treatment for the prevention of glaucoma neurodegeneration," said Dr. Nicolas G. Bazan.

Glaucoma is the most common cause of irreversible blindness.Although treatments are available to reduce intraocular pressure, 15 percent of glaucoma patients develop blindness in both eyes, and up to 42 percent lose sight in one eye.