Purpose: Compared to the well-documented cytotoxic quaternary ammonium Benzalkonium chloride (BAK), Polyquaternium-1 (PQ) is proposed to be safer for the ocular surface. Using an established acute rabbit toxicological model, we tested the toxicological profiles of three topical antiglaucoma treatments: two commercially available fixed combinations of latanoprost/timolol containing 0.020% BAK (l...

The Bcl-2 relative Bak is thought to drive apoptosis by forming homo-oligomers that permeabilize mitochondria, but how it is activated and oligomerizes is unclear. To clarify these pivotal steps toward apoptosis, we have characterized multiple random loss-of-function Bak mutants and explored the mechanism of Bak conformation change during apoptosis. Single missense mutations located to the alph...

PURPOSE The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of prostaglandin analogs on blood flow in the ophthalmic artery of clinically healthy rabbits. METHODS Fifty-five clinically healthy New Zealand white rabbits were divided into six groups, and the left eyes were treated for four weeks with the preservative benzalkonium chloride (BAK) only or a topical formulation of different prosta...

The in vivo patterns of bak gene expression were determined in human tissues using an immunohistochemical approach. Polyclonal antisera were raised in rabbits against a synthetic peptide corresponding to amino acids 14-36 of the human Bak protein, and were shown to be specific by immunoblot analysis of various human tissues and cell lines. Bak immunoreactivity was detected in a wide variety of ...

The in vivo patterns of bak gene expression were determined in human tissues using an immunohistochemical approach. Polyclonal antisera were raised in rabbits against a synthetic peptide corresponding to amino acids 14-36 of the human Bak protein, and were shown to be specific by immunoblot analysis of various human tissues and cell lines. Bak iininunoreactivity was detected in a wide variety o...

B cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) homology domain 3 (BH3)-only proteins of the Bcl-2 family are important functional adaptors that link cell death signals to the activation of Bax and/or Bak. The BH3-only protein Nbk/Bik induces cell death via an entirely Bax-dependent/Bak-independent mechanism. In contrast, cell death induced by the short splice variant of Bcl-x depends on Bak but not Bax. This indica...

PURPOSE To evaluate the efficacy, safety and tolerability of changing to travoprost BAK-free from prior prostaglandin therapy in patients with primary open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension. DESIGN Prospective, multi-center, historical control study. METHODS Patients treated with latanoprost or bimatoprost who needed alternative therapy due to tolerability issues were enrolled. Patients...

Mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization (MOMP) and release of mitochondrial intermembrane proteins like cytochrome c are critical steps in the control of apoptosis. Previous work has shown that MOMP depends on the functionally redundant multidomain proapoptotic proteins, Bak and Bax. Here we demonstrate that Bak and Bax are functionally non-redundant during Neisseria gonorrhoeae (Ngo)- an...

In the Bak–Sneppen model, the lowest fitness particle and its two nearest neighbors are renewed at each temporal step with a uniform (0,1) fitness distribution. The model presents a critical value that depends on the interaction criteria (two nearest neighbors) and on the update procedure (uniform). Here we calculate the critical value for models where one or both properties are changed. We stu...

Conjunctiva-associated lymphoid tissue (CALT) is closely associated with ocular surface immunity. This study investigated the effects of antiglaucoma prostaglandin analogs with or without benzalkonium chloride (BAK) preservative on organized CALT using an acute toxic model. A total of 48 albino rabbits were used and seven groups of treatments were constituted. Solutions (50 µl) of PBS, 0.02%BAK...