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

脑红蛋白(NGB)是最近发现的一种神经特异性氧结合蛋白。它是最近通过使用新的研究技术发现的-尽管它已经存在了数亿年。它存在的时间比更广为人知的血红蛋白(在身体周围输送氧气并清除血液中的废物)或在肌肉中执行类似功能的肌红蛋白更长。脑红蛋白是一种新发现的蛋白质，它存在于视网膜和大脑等神经组织中，其功能目前尚不清楚。这种蛋白的重要性是它存在于神经组织中(视网膜和大脑)，非常努力地提供基本功能，如视力和我们大脑的许多重要功能。视网膜可以被认为是“相机中的胶片或传感器”，因为它将来自我们面前物体的光能转化为电信号，然后电信号沿着视神经传递到大脑，在那里进行处理，让我们看到物体。如果这条通路上的任何地方出现故障，这个人可能视力有问题，可能看不清楚，或者根本看不见。这可能会对他们的生活产生严重影响。视网膜、神经组织和大脑可能存在基因异常，这意味着这些组织可能在很小的时候就不能正常工作，或者在以后的生活中退化。由于这些组织都非常努力地工作，即使在没有缺陷细胞或组织的人身上也是如此，随着时间的推移，他们的血液可能会老化，氧气供应可能会受损，组织可能会失去功能。许多疾病会影响视网膜、视力和大脑。视网膜疾病包括与年龄相关的黄斑变性、遗传错误或营养不良、血液供应问题、眼内压力问题、青光眼以及连接眼睛和大脑的主要神经(视神经)问题。青光眼是世界上最常见的不可逆转的视力丧失原因。青光眼一旦失明，就无法恢复。我们并不完全理解青光眼发生的原因。这个脑红蛋白项目的目的是试图在为时已晚之前找出神经受损的原因，这样我们就可以找出防止神经受损的方法，从而防止视力丧失。大脑疾病包括中风、阿尔茨海默氏症和痴呆症等退行性疾病。同样，对脑红蛋白功能的研究可能有助于防止大脑功能的丧失。这些视网膜和大脑疾病中的许多都是由于血液供应、氧气运输以及废物或异常物质的堆积造成的。脑红蛋白与许多这类疾病有关，这个项目的主要目的是试图找出它在视网膜中的功能。次要目标包括将我们在视网膜中发现的脑红蛋白应用于大脑研究。我们将比较视网膜和大脑中有脑红蛋白的小鼠和没有脑红蛋白的小鼠。这将通过拍摄专家照片和测量视网膜“看到”的东西来完成。我们将通过观察脑红蛋白在视网膜和大脑中的作用，来了解脑红蛋白是如何在视网膜和大脑中发挥作用的。我们有一些关于脑红蛋白如何工作的线索，我们相信它在视网膜和大脑中确实具有至关重要的功能。我们正在与其他研究所的许多其他研究人员合作，共同努力。如果我们能够弄清楚脑红蛋白是如何工作的，那么我们就可以尝试增加它的有效性，防止视网膜功能的丧失，试图防止视力丧失和大脑功能丧失。

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.