International Review of Ophthalmology ›› 2015, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (3): 200-205.doi: 10. 3706/ cma. j. issn.1673-5803. 2015. 03. 012

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Aquaporin and ocular diseases

SONG  Yu-Chen, YAO  Jin, JIANG  Qin   

  1. Department of Ophthalmology,the Affiliated Eye Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China
  • Received:2014-11-17 Online:2015-06-22 Published:2015-06-25
  • Contact: JIANG Qin, Email:jqin710@vip.sina.com

Abstract: Aquaporin (AQP) is a type of water transporting protein expressed mainly in epithelia and endothelia of human and other mammalian species. AQP, which plays an important role in ocular function, such as  maintaining normal introcular pressure(IOP) and facilitating cornea epithelium restore after injure, is abundant in ocular tissue and  involved in ocular pathological processes. For example, AQP0, which was  expressed in lens, its gene mutation would cause congenital cataract and abnormality in quantity or distribution would accelerate the development of age-related cataract. Besides that, dysregulation of AQP expression might cause numerous ocular disorders which related to water transport, such as macular edema of diabetic retinopathy (DR), high IOP of glaucoma, uveitis and  optica neuritis. A safe and effective approach interfering the quantity and distribution of AQP expression within ocular tissues  might represent a potential target for future therapeutic development of ocular diseases associated with fluid transporting disorder.  (Int Rev Ophthalmol, 2015, 39:200-205)