Evaluation of oxidative stress markers in pathogenesis of primary open-angle glaucoma

Primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) is the leading cause of blindness in the industrial countries. It is reported that oxidative stress might be an important risk factor in the pathogenesis of POAG. Forty subjects including 20 patients with open-angle glaucoma (9 men and 12 women, mean age 61.8±12.1yr) and 20 controls without glaucoma symptoms (9 men and 12 women, mean age 58.1±17.7yr) were enrolled in our study. The main aim of the work was to evaluate oxidative stress markers in the pathogenesis of open-angle glaucoma. In our work the activity of antioxidant enzymes: catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPX) as well as the total antioxidant status (TAS) was estimated. An alkaline comet assay was used to measure DNA damage of strand breaks (SB), oxidized purines as glicosylo-formamido-glicosylase (Fpg) sites, and oxidized pirmidines as endonuclease III (Nth) sites. We measured endogenous as well as exogenous DNA damage after 10μM hydrogen peroxide treatment (H(2)O(2)). We did not observe any statistical changes of DNA strand break lesion in examined POAG patients according to healthy subjects (P>0.05). However, either endogenous (P<0.01) or exogenous (P<0.001) levels of oxidative DNA damage in POAG patients were found to be statistically higher than controls. A significant decrease of antioxidant enzymes: CAT (P<0.001), SOD (P<0.05), and GPX (P<0.001) and a non-statistical decrease of TAS status (P>0.05) in glaucoma patients according to controls were also indicated. In conclusion our data revealed that oxidative stress had a pathogenic role in primary open-angle glaucoma. Therefore, we suggested that the modulation of a pro-oxidant/antioxidant status might be a relevant target for glaucoma prevention and therapy.