PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Chikako Harada
AU  - Atsuko Kimura
AU  - Xiaoli Guo
AU  - Kazuhiko Namekata
AU  - Takayuki Harada
TI  - Recent advances in genetically modified animal models of glaucoma and their roles in drug repositioning
AID  - 10.1136/bjophthalmol-2018-312724
DP  - 2019 Feb 01
TA  - British Journal of Ophthalmology
PG  - 161--166
VI  - 103
IP  - 2
4099  - http://bjo.bmj.com/content/103/2/161.short
4100  - http://bjo.bmj.com/content/103/2/161.full
SO  - Br J Ophthalmol2019 Feb 01; 103
AB  - Glaucoma is one of the leading causes of vision loss in the world. Currently, pharmacological intervention for glaucoma therapy is limited to eye drops that reduce intraocular pressure (IOP). Recent studies have shown that various factors as well as IOP are involved in the pathogenesis of glaucoma, especially in the subtype of normal tension glaucoma. To date, various animal models of glaucoma have been established, including glutamate/aspartate transporter knockout (KO) mice, excitatory amino acid carrier 1 KO mice, optineurin E50K knock-in mice, DBA/2J mice and experimentally induced models. These animal models are very useful for elucidating the pathogenesis of glaucoma and for identifying potential therapeutic targets. However, each model represents only some aspects of glaucoma, never the whole disease. This review will summarise the benefits and limitations of using disease models of glaucoma and recent basic research in retinal protection using existing drugs.