Neuroglobin in the Retina. Use of a Knockout Mouse for Functional assessment / Phenotyping and examining Human relevance, towards Neuroprotection.

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Neuroglobin (Ngb) is a recently discovered nerve specific oxygen binding "globin" protein.It was discovered recently through the use new research techniques - even though it had been present for hundreds of millions of years.It has been present for longer than the more well known Haemoglobin ( which carries oxygen around the body and removes waste products in blood) or Myoglobin which carries out a similar function in muscle.Neuroglobin is a newly discovered protein which is found in nerve tissue such as the retina and the brain and its function is not clearly understood at present.The importance of this protein is that it is found in nerve tissue ( retina and brain) that work very hard to provide essential functions such as eyesight and the many important functions of our brain. The retina can be though of as being "the film or sensor in a camera" in that it converts light energy from an object in front of us, into an electrical signal that then travels up the Optic nerve to the brain, where it is processed to allow us to see the object.If there is a fault anywhere along this pathway, the person may have problems with their vision and may not be able to see well or they may not see at all. This can have a severe impact on their lives.Retina, nerve tissue and brain may have genetic abnormalities that mean these tissues may not work as they should from an early age or they may degenerate later in life. As these tissues all "work" very hard even in people who do not have a faulty cell or tissue, with time "ageing" their blood an oxygen supply may become impaired of the tissue can lose function. Many diseases can affect the retina and eyesight and the brain.Diseases of the retina include age-related macular degeneration, genetic errors or dystrophies, problems with blood supply, problems with the pressure inside the eye "glaucoma" and problems with the main nerve (Optic nerve) connecting the eye to the brain.Glaucoma is the most common cause of irreversible loss of vision in the world. Once the sight is lost in glaucoma it cannot be recovered. We do not fully understand why glaucoma occurs. The aim of this neuroglobin project is to try to work out why nerves are damaged, before it is too late, so that we can work out ways to try to prevent the nerves being damaged so that we can prevent loss of vision.Diseases of the brain include strokes, degenerative conditions such as Alzheiners disease and dementia. Again research into neuroglobins function may help to prevent loss of brain function.Many of these retina and brain diseases are due to problems with blood supply, oxygen transport and build up of waste products or abnormal material. Neuroglobin has been implicated in many of these diseases and the aim of this project isPrimarily to try to find out what its function is in the retina.Secondary aims include applying what we find out about Neuroglobin in the retina to brain researchWe will compare mice that have neuroglobin in their retina and brain with some that do not have neuroglobin.This will be done by taking specialist photographs and measuring what the retina "sees". We will see how this changes over time "ageing" to try to work out how neuroglobin works in the retina and in the brain.We have some clues about how neuroglobin works and we believe that it doe have a vital function in retina and in brain.We are working with many other reseachers in other institutes in a collaborative effort.Together, if we can work out how neuroglobin works, then we can try to increase its effectiveness and prevent loss of function in the retina to try to prevent loss of vision and to try to prevent loss of brain function.