Introduction. Pathologies of the visual organ (keratitis, glaucoma, etc.) occupy a leading place among the causes of vision loss and blindness. According to the literature, the immunopathogenesis of bacterial keratitis is associated with the activation of macrophages and oxygen explosion. The role of these mechanisms in the pathogenesis of primary open-angle glaucoma is not fully understood. There are isolated studies in which the development of this pathology is associated with nitric oxide NO, which is produced by endothelial NO synthase (nos). However, despite numerous studies, the role of immunogenetics in the pathogenesis of glaucoma remains insufficiently researched.The aim of the study is to explore the association of T786C, C774T, Glu298Asp polymorphic markers of the eNOS gene with development of POAG in residents of the Perm Territory.Materials and methods. The study was performed using peripheral blood collected from 93 patients with POAG and 96 patients with cataracts. The real-time polymerase chain reaction was performed after the DNA extraction. The frequencies of alleles and genotypes in the study groups were measured using the chi-square (χ2 ) test and Fisher’s exact test. Results with p < 0.05 were seen as statistically significant. The calculated odds ratio and the 95% confidence interval were used to quantify the association between POAG development in patients and the existence of an unfavorable polymorphic marker.Results. The C774T and Glu298Asp markers did not show any significant differences in the distribution of genotypes and alleles of the eNOS gene. Higher frequencies of the homozygous TT genotype; and lower frequencies of the C allele of T786C polymorphic locus of eNOS gene were detected in patients with POAG.Conclusion. Polymorphic markers of the eNOS gene can be seen as factors associated with the risk of POAG.

Neurodegenerative ophthalmopathology is one of the main causes of irreversible blindness and disability in the world. In the pathogenesis of diseases of this group, more and more attention has recently been paid to the role of local inflammation caused by the activation of innate immunity and the mechanisms of its genetic regulation. In recent years, works have appeared in the field of experimental ophthalmology that have demonstrated the possibility of NLRP1, NLRP3 inflammasome complexes assembling when exposed to hyperglycemia, oxygen deprivation of retinal cells, as well as modeling compressive stress similar to that in glaucoma [15]. However, the mechanism of inflammasome involvement in the development of neurodegenerative eye diseases remains unclear. The aim of the study was to investigate the local expression of genes encoding proteins of the NLRP3 inflammasome complex (NLRP3, CASP-1) in an experimental model of retinal degeneration in rabbits. The studies were performed on samples of tissue complex (TC) of the retina/retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) (retina/RPE TC), isolated from the eyes of 14 New Zealand albino rabbits, in which degenerative retinal lesion was modeled by a single subretinal injection of 0.01 mL of 0.9% sodium chloride solution, and 7 healthy rabbits without eye damage. The formation of retinal degeneration was judged on the basis of changes in morphofunctional parameters obtained during specialized ophthalmological research methods (optical coherence tomography, fundus autofluorescence, electroretinography) at follow-up periods of 1, 3 and 6 months. The level of expression of NLRP3 and CASP-1 genes in the retina/RPE TC was evaluated by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). According to the results of the study, a statistically significant increase in NLRP3 gene expression (p < 0.001) was noted in the retina/RPE TC of experimental animals, which may indicate the involvement of NLRP-3 inflammasome components in the development of neurodegenerative retinal lesions. At the same time, the expression of the gene encoding CASP-1 was detected only in the retina/RPE TC of experimental eyes and is probably due to local inflammatory mechanisms in the retinal tissue.The high level of NLRP3, CASP-1 mRNA, detected in all retina/RPE TC samples of experimental eyes at late stages of the experiment (3 and 6 months), allows us to assume the formation of mechanisms (for example, activated glial phenotype) that support inflammation in retinal tissue. This should be taken into account in actively developing transplantation methods for the treatment of retinal degeneration.

Glaucoma is widely known to have a progressive course and occupy a leading place among the causes of vision loss and blindness. Increased intraocular pressure is the key harmful factor among the causes of glaucoma occurrence. In some cases, however, the progressive disease is also observed at normal values of ophthalmic tonus. Early diagnosis of glaucoma will allow for timely therapy, which in turn will reduce the risk of complications and prevent neuroopticopathy progression. According to the literature data, the pathogenesis of primary open-angle glaucoma is associated with nitric oxide (NO), due to imbalance between endothelium-produced vasoconstrictors and vasodilators, especially, endotelin-1 and nitric oxide. Decreased NO level combined with endotelin-1 hyperproduction is associated with development and progression of a number of ocular disorders including glaucomatous atrophy of the optic nerve. Since nitric oxide is produced by endothelial NO-synthase (eNOS), one may assume that eNOS is involved in pathogenesis of neurodegenerative changes in primary open-angle glaucoma. However, despite numerous studies on the pathogenesis of glaucoma, the distinct factors of innate immune response remain poorly studied. The purpose of the present study was a search for association between polymorphic markers (C774T, T786C, Glu298Asp) of the eNOS gene and the risk of primary open-angle glaucoma among the Perm Region residents. Peripheral blood of patients with primary open-angle glaucoma (the main group) and cataract without glaucoma (a comparison group) was used as initial biomaterial. In comparison group, arterial hypertension was most often encountered as concomitant pathology. Genomic DNA was first isolated from the blood samples, followed by rt-PCR using reagent kits for determining C774T, T786C, Glu298Asp polymorphic markers in the eNOS gene. The prevalence of polymorphic variants of the innate immunity genes T786C, C774T and Glu298Asp of the eNOS gene was analyzed in patients with primary open-angle glaucoma. There were no significant differences in the distribution of genotypes and alleles of eNOS gene for the C774T and Glu298Asp polymorphic markers. An increased frequency of homozygous TT genotype was found, along with decreased occurrence of C allele at the polymorphic T786C locus of the eNOS gene, as well as a trend for decreased frequency of the TC and CC genotypes. Arterial hypertension potentiated the negative effect of increased intraocular pressure upon the glaucoma-associated optic neuropathy. Conclusions. The studied changes in genotypes and allelic frequencies of eNOS gene may be regarded as risk factors that increase probability of the primary open-angle glaucoma and predict severity of the disease.