Title

 

Authors

C. Bucolo

Department of Clinical and Molecular Biomedicine, Section of Pharmacology and Biochemistry, School of Medicine, University of Catania, Catania, Italy

 

Abstract

Nitric oxide (NO) and carbonic monoxide (CO) are organic gases ubiquitously synthesized in mammalian tissues by enzymes that have constitutive and inducible forms. They are produced as metabolic end-products in specific cell life phases, and may act as atypical neuronal messengers.Manyworks have highlighted the role of NOin a wide range of ocular diseases andrecent studies from our laboratory andothers have shown that a suppressiveaction of inducible NOS-derived NOproduction lowers the intraocular pressure. On the contrary, very few works have been investigated the role of CO in ocular diseases. These two gases areveryintriguing molecules, and a better understanding of their regulation and interactions is important to extendour knowledge of the physiological and pathophysiological processesin the eye, in general, and in glaucoma, in particular. Therefore, this talk focuses on NO and CO as fine modulators of intraocularpressure, and on their potential implications in glaucoma.