Twenty-four-hour monitoring of IOP frequently led to a change of glaucoma management by identifying IOP fluctuations and spikes. High IOP and wide diurnal IOP variation are considered major risk factors for glaucoma progression, and standard clinic follow-up evaluations failed to identify these phenomena.

No abstract

Combating myeloid cell-mediated destruction of the retina during inflammation or neurodegeneration is dependent on the integrity of homeostatic mechanisms within the tissue that may suppress T cell activation and their subsequent cytokine responses, modulate infiltrating macrophage activation, and facilitate healthy tissue repair. Success is dependent on response of the resident myeloid-cell populations [microglia (MG)] to activation signals, commonly cytokines, and the control of infiltrating macrophage activation during inflammation, both of which appear highly programmed in normal and inflamed retina. The evidence that tissue CD200 constitutively provides down-regulatory signals to myeloid-derived cells via cognate CD200-CD200 receptor (R) interaction supports inherent tissue control of myeloid cell activation. In the retina, there is extensive neuronal and endothelial expression of CD200. Retinal MG in CD200 knockout mice display normal morphology but unlike the wild-type mice, are present in increased numbers and express nitric oxide synthase 2, a macrophage activation marker, inferring that loss of CD200 or absent CD200R ligation results in "classical" activation of myeloid cells. Thus, when mice lack CD200, they show increased susceptibility to and accelerated onset of tissue-specific autoimmunity.

Background/aim: Nestin is an intermediate filament marker for neural progenitor cells. The authors aimed to identify nestin positive cells in adult human retina and within surgically removed epiretinal membranes. Methods: Adult human retina and epiretinal membranes were studied. Tissue was fixed and processed for semithin sections or whole mount preparations for immunohistochemical detection of nestin and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) expression. Results: Nestin positive cells are most prominent at the ora serrata, possess fibrillary processes, small amounts of perinuclear cytoplasm, and are arranged radially within or superficially on the retina. In the posterior retina, speckled cytoplasmic nestin staining is seen around the nuclei of neurons. In the peripapillary retina most of the cells in the retinal ganglion cell layer are nestin positive. These cells appear to represent nestin positive neurons. Speckled cells are also seen in the myelinated portion of the optic nerve. In epiretinal membranes patches of elongated nestin positive cells were found. These cells were also positive for GFAP. Conclusions: Some neurons and glia in the adult human retina are nestin positive. Their pattern in anterior retina suggests an analogy with the ciliary marginal zone found in many other species. The role of these cells in pathological responses to retinal disease is suggested by the presence of large numbers of ectopic nestin positive cells in epiretinal membranes. The authors hypothesise that nestin positive cells represent a population of progenitor cells from normal adult human retina that differentiate to make up retinal scar tissue.