European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 16, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                To your health new tool illuminates baffling Eye disorders with a new ability to grow crucial Eye cells in the Laboratory scientists Are advancing the understanding of the causes of glaucoma and cataracts. They Hope this will Lead to better treatments for these common afflictions of the elderly. Trabecular mesh Ork where fluid forms in glaucoma clogging of Drain age tissue called trabecular mesh work prevents Normal fluid outflow. Glaucoma an Cataract closing in on the causes glaucoma a buildup of fluid causes pressure in Side the eyeball to increase damaging the optic nerve at the Back of the Eye. With the new ability to grow cells from Eye tissue called trabecular mesh work scientists have identified a sub stance that May initiate the disease. Cataracts changes in proteins inside a thin layer of cells causes the Lens to become opaque blurring or blocking vision. Now Able for the first time to grow human Lens cells researchers Are investigating the suspected roles of Light i hormones in causing cataracts in Puble people. Lens \ v Lens fluid outflow Cornea Cataract l cataracts form when proteins become stuck to Gether inside the Long Lens cells. Optic nerve not begin Okolata new York times employing new techniques to grow thin layers of cells from the human Eye in the Laboratory researchers believe they Are close to understanding Why people develop glaucoma and cataracts. With the Laboratory advances the researchers Are hoping not Only to test theories about the causes of the diseases but also to develop new treatments. Both ailments which occur most often in older people have baffled scientists for decades. Although researchers have Long understood that in cataracts a layer of the Lens of the Eye becomes opaque blurring or blocking vision they have not known precisely what triggered it. Experts estimate that 1 percent of americans aged 55 to 59 suffer from cataracts while 15 percent of those aged 75 to 79 have them. Similarly doctors know that glaucoma occurs when fluid builds up in the Eye causing an increase in pressure that can damage the delicate fibres of the optic nerve at the Back of the Eye. But they have been unable to pinpoint the cause of the buildup. Eight percent of americans Over the age of 40 have elevated pressure in their eyes and 20 percent of them go on to develop glaucoma which if left untreated can cause blindness. Early research using the new Laboratory techniques includes tests of two of the most promising theories about How the diseases begin. Researchers believe that steroid hormones like cortisone and damage from Light May initiate both conditions. The researchers also Hope to develop drugs that can Block the development of cataracts and glaucoma. They have been hampered in their previous work because animal models of cataracts and glaucoma do not fully reflect the diseases in humans. We have a new Opportunity with these cell cultures said or. Jon r. Polansky of the University of California at san Francisco referring to the human Eye cells that he grows in the Laboratory. The key to the current excitement was the discovery that natural proteins called growth factors can trigger the growth of Eye cells in the Laboratory. After a group of investigators at the Beckman vision Center of the University of California at san Francisco succeeded in growing Lens cells in a Laboratory dish they found that the cells looked exactly like those found in the Eye. The Lens cells they grew Are those that play a role in Cataract formation. Meanwhile the Beckman researchers and others have completed extensive studies showing that when they grow the human cells that go awry in glaucoma the cells retain the natural structures and biochemical properties that characterize them in the Eye. The results mean that when researchers study the Laboratory cells they can be More confident that their results would apply to actual glaucoma or Cataract patients. Cell cultures of Eye tissue at least have the potential to let us get at the underlying mechanisms that Lead to glaucoma and cataracts said or. Steven g. Kramer director of the Beckman Center. The cultures also make it possible to test new drugs in the Laboratory he added. The concept of studying Eye diseases by looking at specific Eye cells grown in Laboratory dishes is in All honesty an old idea said or. Robert Nussenblatt clinical director of the National Eye Institute in Bethesda my. But until recently the work has been slow and difficult in part because it was not even established that Eye cells would grow in the Laboratory. These cells normally Don t grow in the body Kramer said. You have the original cells that you were born with. They deteriorate throughout your life but they never re  within the past few years however researchers have found that when they stimulate Eye cells with growth factors the cells grow to form a single layer in Laboratory dishes then Stop growing and behave exactly As they do in a person s Eye Kramer said. Experts say that the new cultures of Eye cells offer significant advantages. What can you do with intact tissue asked or. P. John Anderson of the Massachusetts Eye and ear infirmary referring to tissue removed from a person after death or during surgery. The choices he said Are to flood it with test chemicals Cut out tissues of interest damaging it As you do or to grind it up and look at its biochemicals. But if you can grow cells in culture you can Start asking very sophisticated questions Anderson said. For example researchers can look at whether specific Eye cells change in precise ways when they Are exposed to Light or steroid hormones. When patients develop glaucoma they have blockages in a porous Structure called the trabecular Meshwork that lets fluid Drain from the Eye into the blood. Most patients can be treated with drugs supplied As Eye drops which decrease the pumping of fluid into and out of the Eye allowing the partially clogged network of filtering cells to function. Other options include surgery and a drug that opens the fluid pathways. The problem with glaucoma therapy is that eventually the drugs Stop being effective said Polansky. You need a combination of  Page 16 the stars and stripes tuesday August 16,1988