Chun Bo Young, Cestari Dean M
aDepartment of Ophthalmology bBrain Science and Engineering Institute, Kyungpook National University School of Medicine, Daegu, South Korea cDepartment of Ophthalmology, Neuro-ophthalmology Service, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Curr Opin Ophthalmol. 2017 Nov;28(6):558-563. doi: 10.1097/ICU.0000000000000417.
Recent advances in experimental studies of optic nerve regeneration to better understand the pathophysiology of axon regrowth and provide insights into the future treatment of numerous optic neuropathies.
The optic nerve is part of the central nervous system and cannot regenerate if injured. There are several steps that regenerating axons of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) must take following optic nerve injury that include: maximizing the intrinsic growth capacity of RGCs, overcoming the extrinsic growth-inhibitory environment of the optic nerve, and optimizing the reinnervation of regenerated axons to their targets in the brain. Recently, some degree of experimental optic nerve regeneration has been achieved by factors associated with inducing intraocular inflammation, providing exogenous neurotrophic factors, reactivating intrinsic growth capacity of mature RGCs, or by modifying the extrinsic growth-inhibitory environment of the optic nerve. In some experiments, regenerating axons have been shown to reinnervate their central targets in the brain.
Further approaches to the combination of aforementioned treatments will be necessary to develop future therapeutic strategy to promote ultimate regeneration of the optic nerve and functional vision recovery after optic nerve injury.
视神经再生的实验研究取得了新进展，以便更好地理解轴突再生的病理生理学，并为未来多种视神经病变的治疗提供思路。
视神经是中枢神经系统的一部分，损伤后无法再生。视网膜神经节细胞（RGCs）的轴突在视神经损伤后必须经历几个步骤，包括：最大化RGCs的内在生长能力、克服视神经的外在生长抑制环境，以及优化再生轴突向其在大脑中的靶标的重新支配。最近，通过与诱导眼内炎症、提供外源性神经营养因子、重新激活成熟RGCs的内在生长能力或改变视神经的外在生长抑制环境相关的因素，已经实现了一定程度的实验性视神经再生。在一些实验中，再生轴突已被证明能够重新支配它们在大脑中的中枢靶标。
未来需要进一步结合上述治疗方法，以制定促进视神经最终再生和视神经损伤后功能性视力恢复的治疗策略。
