LAUSR

Neurodegeneration of the central nervous system (CNS) underscores many of humanity’s most debilitating diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and multiple sclerosis. Recently, the nitric oxide-guanylate cyclase-cyclic guanosine monophosphate (NOGC-cGMP) signaling pathway has gained traction as a neuroprotective pathway in the CNS. As an extension of the CNS, the retina is also susceptible to neurodegeneration with age. The most prevalent optic neuropathy is glaucoma, the world’s leading cause of irreversible blindness, predicted to affect more than 112 million people worldwide by 2040 (Calkins, 2021). In glaucoma, v is ion loss occurs due to the progress ive degeneration of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), the output neurons of the retina, along with their axons which form the optic nerve (Wareham et al., 2022). Degeneration of RGCs leads to a characteristic pattern of scotopic visual field deficiencies that spread from one retinotopic sector to the next (Elze et al., 2015). Visual deficits are linked to increasing age and the sensitivity of RGCs to intraocular pressure (Calkins, 2021).