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Abstract #3269

Effects of intraocular pressure elevation and oral citicoline treatment on resting state functional connectivity in the visual system

Yolandi van der Merwe1, Matthew C Murphy2, Leon C Ho3, Xiaoling Yang4, Yu Yu5, Ying Chau5, Christopher K Leung6, and Kevin C Chan7

1Department of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States, 2Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, United States, 3Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 4Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States, 5Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 6Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 7Department of Radiology, New York University, New York, NY, United States

Glaucoma is a neurodegenerative disease that causes irreversible damage to the visual system. While elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) is a major risk factor, its neurobehavioral effects on the visual system remain unclear. Here we showed that increasing magnitude and duration of IOP elevation resulted in differential effects on the visuomotor behavior and resting-state functional connectivity between visual brain nuclei. In addition, under similar levels of chronic IOP elevation, oral citicoline treatment appeared to ameliorate visual behavioral deficits and functional connectivity decrease in some brain regions. These results suggest new potential mechanistic targets for treatment of glaucoma beyond IOP lowering.

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