INDIANAPOLIS — Experiencing a traumatic brain injury (TBI) can cause a wide range of health issues, including problems with thinking, movement, emotions and vision. Nearly 68% of people with TBI experience some form of vision problem, such as blurred vision, light sensitivity, trouble focusing, poor depth perception or even permanent vision loss.
A common cause of vision loss after TBI is traumatic optic neuropathy. This condition occurs when retinal ganglion cell axons, which form the optic nerve and transmit visual signals to the brain, are damaged.
Unfortunately, treatment options for traumatic optic neuropathy remain limited. It typically involves surgery to relieve pressure on the optic nerve or anti-inflammatory medications. There is still no available medication specifically designed to protect retinal ganglion cell axons from TBI damage.
Arupratan Das, PhD, an assistant professor in the IU School of Medicine Department of Ophthalmology, is working to change that. He and his lab recently received a two-year, $200,000 grant from the Indiana Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Fund to investigate a promising drug therapy that may protect retinal ganglion cells and help prevent vision loss after brain injury.
"We'll use a well-established mouse model of TBI in collaboration with Xiang Gao at IU School of Medicine to test whether giving the drug systemically can help preserve vision," Das said. "We'll measure visual tracking, study which specific types of retinal ganglion cells are protected and explore how the drug activates nerve-protective pathways at the molecular level. This research will help us understand whether this therapy could prevent vision loss after TBI and lay the groundwork for future treatments."
After a traumatic brain injury, inflammation floods the optic nerve. In severe cases, retinal ganglion cells can begin to die within just 10 days, largely through programmed cell death. That's why it’s vital to develop a drug that directly protects these critical nerve cells and can be used alongside existing treatments such as surgery or anti-inflammatory drugs, Das said.
"Our goal is to advance a first-in-class neuroprotective therapy that already has human safety data and shows strong promise for safeguarding these vital cells," Das said "The results could help accelerate a new treatment toward human clinical trials, giving hope to patients facing vision loss from brain injury."
The grant funding not only empowers researchers to tackle critical vision loss challenges, but it also helps further IU School of Medicine's vision to lead health care transformation through innovation, while enriching training and collaboration within the school and across the broader biomedical community.
About the Indiana University School of Medicine
The IU School of Medicine is the largest medical school in the U.S. and is annually ranked among the top medical schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. The school offers high-quality medical education, access to leading medical research and rich campus life in nine Indiana cities, including rural and urban locations consistently recognized for livability. According to the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research, the IU School of Medicine ranks No. 13 in 2024 National Institutes of Health funding among all public medical schools in the country.
Writer: Annie Troutman, anntrout@iu.edu
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