Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 10, 2026

Glaucoma-inducing Procedure in an In Vivo Rat Model and Whole-mount Retina Preparation
Published on: March 12, 2016
Erythropoietin is increased in aqueous humor of glaucomatous eyes
Zhao-Yang Wang1, Ke-Ke Zhao, Pei-Quan Zhao
1Department of Ophthalmology, Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
Purpose:
To determine the aqueous concentration of erythropoietin (EPO) in patients with and without glaucoma.
Methods:
Prospective, comparative control study. Concentrations of EPO in the aqueous humor were measured using ELISA kits from 75 patients, of whom 55 had glaucoma (14 primary acute angle-closure glaucoma, PAACG; 26 primary chronic angle-closure glaucoma, PCACG; 11 primary open-angle glaucoma, POAG; 4 neovascular glaucoma, NVG), and 20 had cataract only as control.
Results:
EPO concentrations in eyes with glaucoma (71.0 +/- 12.0 mU/mL) were significantly higher than those in eyes with cataract (6.4 +/- 0.8 mU/mL, P < 0.001). There were no significant differences (P = 0.421) between PCACG (28.84 +/- 3.9 mU/mL) and POAG (20.2 +/- 2.0 mU/mL); however, EPO concentrations in eyes with PAACG (118.5 +/- 14 mU/mL) were significantly higher than these two chronic subtypes of glaucoma (P < 0.001, respectively). Unusually high EPO concentrations were detected in four eyes with NVG (319.5 +/- 47.7 mU/mL). No effect of age, gender, different eyes, body mass index of the aqueous humor EPO concentration could be detected (P > 0.05). No significant correlation was found between aqueous humor and plasma EPO concentrations in PAACG and control group (P = 0.285, 0.500, respectively).
Conclusion:
Our prospective study suggests that the aqueous humor EPO concentrations are increased in eyes with glaucoma.
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