Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - GlymphEye (The Ocular Glymphatic System)

Teaser

The overall objective of the project is to describe the ocular glymphatic. This is an important question for the society, because age-related ocular diseases, including glaucoma and macular degeneration involve both changes in intraocular pressure and abnormal accumulation of...

Summary

The overall objective of the project is to describe the ocular glymphatic. This is an important question for the society, because age-related ocular diseases, including glaucoma and macular degeneration involve both changes in intraocular pressure and abnormal accumulation of neuronal metabolic waste products. We have not encountered any problems in the studies and are moving ahead as outlined in the proposal.

Work performed

We have developed and refined the methodology to study the ocular glymphatic system. The basic methodology involves intravitreal injection of fluorescent tracers and harvest of the eye and optic nerve 30-120 min later. Several optical techniques have been used to analyze tracer transport. Additional studies have defined the basic properties of the ocular glymphatic system including the dependence on the molecular size and properties of the tracers. We have also defined the importance of intraocular or intracranial pressure.

Final results

We have initiated PET imaging studies of the ocular glymphatic system, which was not included in the original proposal.