Prof. Dr. Dr. F. Grus PhD MD

Neuroprotection

Glaucomatous optic neuropathy is a chronic process over many years which finally leads to apoptosis with a loss of retinal ganglion cells associated with the loss of visual function.
Several mechanisms such as Glutamate induced excitotoxicity, generation of free radicals and NO neurotoxicity that could be responsible for retinal ganglia cell death were discussed.
The treatment with neuroprotective agents with various structures and different mechanisms of action could provide protection to the remaining neurons.
The aim of this research area is to investigate the effect of different neuroprotective agents on apoptotic retinal ganglia cells.
Therefore, apoptose tests, FACS, and protein profiling will be performed.
In cooperation with the Institute of Pharmacy (PD Dr. U. Ulbrich PhD) and pharmaceutical companies we have large ongoing studies on the apoptosis and proteome profiles of retinal ganglion cells in order to test the neuroprotective power of several different drugs.

Immunodulating effect of allopurinol

If there is an autoimmune component in glaucoma, an immunomodulating treatment could be benificial. Therefore, new immunomodulating drugs are needed. In previous studies, we could demonstrate that allopurinol can change the auto-antibody and cytokine profiles in different animal models. We could show that allopurinol is effective in the treatment of lens-induced uveitis (LIU), and experimental autoimmune uveitis (EAU).