Molecular pathologic mechanism associated with ischemic optic neuropathy

Abstract

Nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy(NAION)is caused by ischemia of the short posterior ciliary artery that supplies the lamina area of the optic disc. It usually occurs in over 50-year-old people. It is acute optic neuropathy and featured with acute, monocular, and painless vision loss, which frequently results in severe permanent vision damage and visual field defects. This disease is attracting increased attention of clinical researchers. This paper overviews the current molecular pathology of NAION from these aspects, including pathogenesis, pathological changes, relevant protein molecules and susceptibility genes in previous studies. This paper lays a theoretical foundation for future research on the pathological mechanism and the treatment of NAION.

Keywords

• nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy
• molecular pathologic mechanism
• proteins
• susceptibility genes