Could surgery-free brain stimulation successfully treat glaucoma?

Neuroscientist Dr Daniel Whitcomb and his team of PhD students specialise in ultrasound brain stimulation. This is a quick and painless technique that can target an area in the brain the size of a coffee bean to stimulate activity.

Daniel’s team had previously shown that this technique could increase production of a molecule called brain-derived neuropathic factor (BDNF), which protects cells damaged in neurodegenerative diseases.

When Daniel read about experimental surgery that had increased these molecules sufficiently to protect retinal cells in an animal model of glaucoma, he wondered if ultrasound brain stimulation might have a similar effect. He applied for Sight Research UK funding to find out.

Their experiments, using anaesthetised healthy rats, found that ultrasound brain stimulation did increase the amount of BDNF molecules in the retina. Importantly, other areas of the brain were completely unaffected. Daniel says,

“It’s extremely promising, but there are questions still to be answered. We don’t know how long the effects of an ultrasound session last. And while we've shown we can increase the amount of BDNF, we don’t know if that increase is sufficient to have a protective effect against glaucoma itself.”

With further funding, Daniel’s team will be able to find answers, testing the technique in an animal model before exploring early-phase clinical trials.

Ultrasound brain stimulation is already being trialled in Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's treatments. If it proves to be safe and effective for glaucoma, it could pave the way for patients being treated in as little as 15 minutes with a targeted brain scan that could stop symptoms getting worse. Daniel adds,

“Proof of concept research is high risk, high reward, because if your hypothesis is wrong, you end up with nothing. That’s why this kind of funding is so hugely important.”

“We had pilot data on something completely unrelated to glaucoma, but we really thought that it might be relevant. The grant gave us the chance to apply this knowledge and, in this case, our findings could lead to better ways to treat glaucoma and other degenerative eye disorders.”