Antiglaucoma Agents (antiglaucoma + agent)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Bimatoprost: A Novel Antiglaucoma Agent

CARDIOVASCULAR THERAPEUTICS, Issue 2 2004
D. F. Woodward
ABSTRACT The aim of glaucoma therapy is to preserve vision by reducing intraocular pressure (IOP). Following recent National Eye Institute sponsored studies, it is becoming increasingly apparent that every mmHg of extra IOP lowering counts. Bimatoprost is the newest and most effective addition to the physician's armamentarium of ocular hypotensive drugs. Direct clinical comparisons have demonstrated that it is more efficacious than the prostaglandin (PG) FP receptor agonist prodrugs, latanoprost and travoprost, as well as a ,-adrenoceptor antagonist, timolol, alone or in fixed combination with the carbonic anhydrase inhibitor, dorzolamide. Moreover, patients that are refractory to latanoprost therapy may be successfully treated with bimatoprost. Such evidence provides support, at the clinical level, for the contention that bimatoprost is pharmacologically distinct from PG FP receptor agonist prodrugs. Bimatoprost is a structural analog of PGF2, -ethanolamide (prostamide F2,), which is formed from the endocannabinoid anandamide by a biosynthetic pathway involving cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2). Their pharmacology is remarkably similar, such that bimatoprost may be regarded as a prostamide mimetic. The target receptor for bimatoprost and the prostamides appears unique and unrelated to PG- and endocannabinoid-sensitive receptors. Extensive ocular distribution/metabolism studies in non-human primates demonstrate that bimatoprost is not a prodrug, it remains essentially intact. Its profound ocular hypotensive effects may, therefore, be attributed to its prostamide-mimetic properties. [source]


The synthetic cannabinoid WIN55212-2 decreases the intraocular pressure in human glaucoma resistant to conventional therapies

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE, Issue 2 2001
Anna Porcella
Abstract The search for new ocular hypotensive agents represents a frontier of current eye research because blindness due to optic neuropathy occurs insidiously in 10% of all patients affected by glaucoma. Cannabinoids have been proposed to lower intraocular pressure by either central or peripheral effects but a specific mechanism for this action has never been elucidated. We recently demonstrated the presence of the central cannabinoid receptor (CB1) mRNA and protein in the human ciliary body. In the present study we show that the synthetic CB1 receptor agonist, WIN 55212,2, applied topically at doses of 25 or 50 µg (n = 8), decreases the intraocular pressure of human glaucoma resistant to conventional therapies within the first 30 min (15 ± 0.5% and 23 ± 0.9%, respectively). A maximal reduction of 20 ± 0.7% and 31 ± 0.6%, respectively, is reached in the first 60 min. These data confirm that CB1 receptors have direct involvement in the regulation of human intraocular pressure, and suggest that, among various classes of promising antiglaucoma agents, synthetic CB1 receptor agonists should deserve further research and clinical development. [source]


Abstract no.: 2 The influence of clozapine on tone of isolated bovine retinal arteries

FUNDAMENTAL & CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY, Issue 3 2005
Koen Boussery
Aims:, It has been suggested that the atypical antipsychotic drug clozapine might be helpful in the development of new antiglaucoma agents, since it combines lowering of the intra-ocular pressure after topical instillation with vasodilation. However, the vasoactive influence of clozapine on ocular blood vessels has never been analysed. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate whether clozapine has direct vasodilatory effects in isolated bovine retinal arteries (BRA) and to characterise pharmacologically the mechanisms involved. Methods:, Retinal arteries were isolated from bovine eyes and mounted in a wire-myograph for isometric tension recording. Concentration-response curves were generated by cumulative addition of clozapine (1 nM to 10 ,M) to the organ bath. Results:, Clozapine elicited a concentration-dependent relaxation of the BRA. Removal of the endothelium of the BRA, inhibition of nitric oxide synthase with N, -nitro-L-arginine and inhibition of soluble guanylyl cyclase with ODQ (1H-[1,2,4]oxadiazolo[4,3-a]quinoxalin-1-one) significantly attenuated the clozapine-response, whereas cyclo-oxygenase inhibition with indomethacin had no influence. The Ca2+ channel activator Bay k8644, the nonselective 5-hydroxytryptamine receptor antagonist methiothepin and the adenosine receptor antagonist 8-(p-sulfophenyl) theophylline also failed in affecting the clozapine-induced relaxations. Conclusion:, Clozapine clearly relaxes bovine retinal arteries in a direct way. Endothelium-derived NO is involved in this response. However, prostanoids, calcium entry blockade, 5-HT7 receptor stimulation and adenosine receptor stimulation all seem to be not involved. [source]


Ophthalmically Administered , Blockers and Their Cardiopulmonary Effects

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL HYPERTENSION, Issue 3 2001
Domenic A. Sica MD
Early clinical studies revealed that timolol and other topical , blockers were effective in reducing intra-ocular pressure, without the side effects associated with other antiglaucoma agents. However, because persons with cardiovascular or respiratory diseases were generally excluded from many of these early studies, the risk of serious cardiovascular and respiratory side effects was seriously underestimated. Once these drugs were made available to the general population, reports of systemic side effects began to proliferate. Very quickly, adverse effects from topical , blockade became "old news." Despite this recognition, many treating physicians remained unaware of the potential for systemic , blockade from topically applied , blockers. A significant portion of a topically administered dose of a , blocker can be absorbed and thereby affect systemic , blockade. Sensitivity to systemic , blockade can be quite dramatic in certain highly susceptible patients, particularly those with either cardiac or pulmonary abnormalities. Careful review of patients' medications will generally lessen, but not completely eliminate, the risk of undesired complications attributable to topical P blockade. [source]


Cyclodextrin complexes of sulfonamide carbonic anhydrase inhibitors as long-lasting topically acting antiglaucoma agents

JOURNAL OF PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES, Issue 10 2002
Francesca Maestrelli
Abstract Complexes of several 1,3,4-thiadiazole-2-sulfonamide derivatives possessing strong carbonic anhydrase (CA) inhibitory properties with ,-cyclodextrin and hydroxypropyl-,-cyclodextrin were obtained and characterized. Although the investigated CA inhibitors possessed very powerful inhibitory properties against the two CA isozymes involved in aqueous humor production within the eye, i.e., CA II and CA IV, these compounds were topically ineffective as intraocular pressure (IOP) lowering agents in normotensive/hypertensive rabbits, due to their very low water solubility. On the contrary, the cyclodextrin,sulfonamide complexes proved to be effective and long-lasting IOP lowering agents in the two animal models of glaucoma mentioned above. © 2002 Wiley-Liss Inc. and the American Pharmaceutical Association J Pharm Sci 91:2211,2219, 2002 [source]