The idea of glaucoma having a
neurodegenerative component (similar to other neurodegenerative disorders) as
one of its causes is a fairly new one. It’s also an idea that gives a large
population to be able to take a look at in terms of experimentation with new
drugs and potential mechanisms of action. In his talk and paper, Dr. Calkins
regarded glaucoma as “a neurodegenerative disease” which could introduce
“neuroprotective strategies …to be an efficacious means to slow or even stop
degenerative progression entirely.” Since glaucoma shares many of the common
neurodegenerative elements seen in other neurodegenerative disorder like
Parkinsons or Alzheimers, if the targets for neuroprotection that Dr. Calkins
is researching are found to be effective, then his research will open doors for
the possible cure or slowing down of very harmful neurodegenerative
diseases. This is what I found to be the
most intriguing of Dr. Calkins talk! The idea that glaucoma’s neurodegeneration
process could be similar to other neurodegenerative diseases could help us
create links between certain frequent neurodegenerative diseases and lead to
research on that topic as well. I’d like
to connect Dr. Calkins talk to an article by one of our LUC professors, Dr.
Jessica Brann. Dr. Brann explores the potential for “neuronal
replacement-associated proliferation” to continue in the aged population of
mice and has found that it indeed does in one of her published articles (cited
below). Although Dr. Brann’s research is not very similar to Dr. Calkins’
research in that it’s not really looking into effects of drugs on the neural
pathways, it does show that there is potential for neurodegenerative repair
within the nervous system which is also what Dr. Calkins pointed out in his
talk that I find rather fascinating because there could be even more
similarities between different neural pathways than we think! This could lead
to a new method of combating disease and studying neuroscience!
Sincerely,
Nida Ahmad
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