An enzyme known to help our liver get rid of ammonia also appears to be good at protecting our retina, scientists report.
An enzyme known to help our liver get rid of ammonia also appears to be good at protecting our retina, scientists report.
Our retina, which captures light and converts it into neural signals that go to the brain so we can see, can be damaged or destroyed by conditions that reduce blood flow like diabetes, glaucoma or hypertension.
“We are trying to figure out what we can do to ameliorate that damage, to lessen the initial injury, and promote better recovery,” says Dr. Ruth B. Caldwell, cell biologist, in the Vascular Biology Center at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University.
Caldwell and her colleagues have the first evidence that the enzyme arginase 1 may do both by suppressing inflammation produced by big white blood cells called macrophages.
Read more at Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University
Image: An enzyme known to help our liver get rid of ammonia also appears to be good at protecting our retina, scientists report. Pictured are: Drs. Abdelrahman Y. Fouda and William and Ruth Caldwell. (Credit: Phil Jones, AU Campus Photographer)
