Find Out How The Eyes Clean Themselves
A new study on the functions of the eye has discovered how the eyes cleanse themselves. The system is similar to that used by the brain to remove toxic substances. Read on and find out more about it.
Through experiments on mice, researchers have found out how our eyes cleanse themselves, using a toxin removal system. What that discovery showed was that this mechanism of self-purification is similar to the drainage system used by the brain.
Similarly, other organs also have methods of removing toxins and protecting themselves. The brain is one of those we know the most about. In fact, research into the new provides hope for the treatment and prevention of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
The journal Science Translational Medicine has printed a new article about the eye. In it, the authors explain that by understanding how the eyes cleanse themselves, we are one step closer to understanding glaucoma. You may not know it, but glaucoma can lead to blindness.
The new study of how the eyes cleanse themselves
The studies we have mentioned were performed on mice, due to their similar eye structure. The researchers injected a drug to follow it and see how the eyes removed it.
In this way, they discovered an alternative route to the traditional drainage. We already know how the eyes use the lymphatic system along with other organs to remove waste products. However, this is another mechanism.
The researchers noticed how amyloid substances left the eyeball through an internal duct called AQP4 (aquaporin-4). This aquaporin is the same as other scientists discovered in the human brain some time before.
In addition to finding out how the eye cleanses itself, the researchers created various scenarios in which they examined whether drainage increased or decreased. They made various attempts. In some of them, the retina was exposed to direct light, and in others, they received a toxic injection.
As the latter, the normal eyeballs were compared to cataracts. What they found was a direct continuation of previous discoveries when the mice with glaucoma had a change in their drainage system.
Cataracts are an eye disease that can be detected in time.
What happens to glaucoma?
Cataracts are a disease characterized by increased pressure on the inner eye. This pressure can be measured, and that measure gives expression to an adopted standard for the force by which the chamber fluid presses on the eyeball.
Under normal circumstances , the chamber fluid acts right there and circulates until it is discharged and leaves the system of the eyeball. This flow is constant and ensures that the liquid is free of toxic substances that could otherwise damage vision.
If for some reason there is no proper drainage of the ventricular fluid, it can accumulate and increase the intraocular pressure. It can also generate more than the system can drain, and then the result is ultimately the same.
People with glaucoma notice how their vision gradually becomes less sharp. Therefore, they go to the ophthalmologist, who measures the intraocular pressure, makes a diagnosis, and explains the treatment options that are available.
You may be able to prevent glaucoma just by reading the scientific study we are talking about here on how the eyes cleanse themselves. Rapid detection of faults in the drainage can improve the circulation of the chamber fluid.
The brain’s purification system
When a doctor diagnoses glaucoma, he or she also explains the treatment options available for the problem.
This new discovery is related to the brain’s purification system, which a research group discovered a few years ago. The glymphatic system is so named because it acts as a lymph but is regulated by glial cells in the nervous system.
The common lymphatic system, which cleanses the organs, is also present in the brain, and also in the eye, but it removes toxins slowly. These other lymphatic systems are faster, and more specialized. Therefore, they handle certain toxins.
The eyes and brain must have lymphatic systems as they are organs with a high metabolism. This means that their cells work at a high speed, and therefore they produce a lot of waste products that would not otherwise accumulate.
In the case of the brain, the system is regulated by the pulse and heart rate as well as by sleep. During the night, certain movements of contraction and expansion of the brain tissue ensure that the waste products are cleaned and removed.
The importance of knowing how the eyes cleanse themselves
The previously mentioned researchers have linked their discovery with glaucoma. Future research is needed, but it gives hope to know how the eyes cleanse themselves.
In fact, one would have a solution before glaucoma begins to damage vision if one could detect defects in the lymphatic systems early. Namely, it would solve problems for millions of people but this diagnosis as they would get a diagnosis in time.
