Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is the most common subtype of dementia. As the prevalence of dementia is projected to increase, the burden of the disease on society is expected to become increasingly significant. The link between eye pathology and neurodegenerative diseases has been established in multiple studies. In particular, optic nerve parameters associated with neuronal loss in AD include retin...

BACKGROUND Acute partial lesion of the rat optic nerve, although not a model for glaucoma, mimics some of the features of the disease. OBJECTIVE To learn whether degeneration of rat optic nerve fibers and death of their retinal ganglion cells induced by an acute partial lesion are associated with elevated levels of glutamate, known to occur in the eyes of humans and monkeys with glaucoma. M...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW Highlight some of the recent advances in gene therapy and gene modification for optic nerve disease to promote axon regeneration, neuroprotection, and increased visual functioning. RECENT FINDINGS Visual loss secondary to optic nerve damage occurs in numerous ophthalmologic and neurologic conditions. Damaged retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) do not regenerate once they undergo a...

Five patients with optic neuropathy, four vascular and one demyelinating, are described who each complained of an unusual symptom. Bright flashes of light (phosphenes) occurred in the affected eyes and were evoked by sudden unexpected sounds. Movement of the eye alone did not reproduce the symptom. In all patients the phenomenon was sufficiently prominent to interfere with sleep and was the mai...

Posterior vitreous fluorophotometry measurements have been shown to be increased in patients with acute retrobulbar neuritis. We studied 12 patients who had optic neuropathy by posterior vitreous fluorophotometry, with and without correction for blood fluorescein concentration. Both uncorrected and corrected posterior vitreous measurements were increased in patients with inflammatory, obstructi...

We report imaging and gross pathologic findings from two cases of Krabbe disease in which there was marked enlargement of the intracranial optic nerves. Numerous globoid cells were observed in the optic nerves at autopsy in one case. Krabbe disease should be included in the differential diagnosis of children with enlargement of the optic nerves.

Glaucoma is a group of optic neuropathies associated with aging and sensitivity to intraocular pressure (IOP). The disease is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. Early progression in glaucoma involves dysfunction of retinal ganglion cell (RGC) axons, which comprise the optic nerve. Deficits in anterograde transport along RGC axons to central visual structures precede outright...

Glaucoma, a leading cause of blindness worldwide, is currently defi ned as a disturbance of the structural or functional integrity of the optic nerve that causes characteristic atrophic changes in the optic nerve, which may lead to specifi c visual fi eld defects over time. This disturbance usually can be arrested or diminished by adequate lowering of intraocular pressure (IOP). Glaucoma can be...

Various cysts associated with intraorbital and intracranial portions of the optic nerve have been described. Arachnoid cysts of the optic nerve in association with optic nerve glioma were described by Wolter and McKenney (I964); Holt (I966) described two cases of cysts of the intracranial portion of the optic nerve, and Smith, Hoyt, and Newton (I969) also described cysts of the anterior third o...

A case is reported of an optic nerve glioma with a marked degree of arachnoid hyperplasia which was initially diagnosed as an optic nerve meningioma. Hyperplasia of the arachnoid was also the underlying cause for expansion of the optic canal. The relationship between arachnoid hyperplasia in optic nerve glioma and meningioma of the optic nerve sheath in childhood is discussed.