Role and significance of aging in retinal ganglion cell injury

Aging is a degenerative process that leads to dysfunction and abnormalities of tissues and cells in vivo.In the retinal neural degenerative diseases associated with aging, retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) are injured and lose their function.Through interacting ways including energy generation disorders, oxidative stress damage, mitochondrial mutation accumulation, protein misfolding and aggregation, immune inflammatory response, lack of neurotrophic factors, insufficient blood flow, increased pressure difference across lamina cribrosa and sclerosis of connective tissues, the sensitivity of RGCs to damage factor might be increased, which plays an important role in the process of optic nerve injury and degeneration.Rejuvenation of RGCs is supposed to be the key to the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases such as glaucoma, which can reduce or even reverse the damage caused by aging and promote the regeneration of RGCs, providing new targets for protecting visual function.Therefore, the research on the role of aging in RGCs injury will provide a new direction for optic nerve protection strategies.From aging and RGCs damage as well as new ideas of RGCs rejuvenation, this paper reviews the role and significance of aging in RGCs damage.

Aging; Retinal ganglion cells; Damage; Neurodegeneration