New Breakthrough Could Help Prevent The Devastating Impact of GlaucomaNEWS | 16 November 2025There's fresh hope for early detection and new treatments of glaucoma, a group of eye diseases that have devastating effects on vision – and for which there is currently no cure. A new study has identified two natural molecules that play an important role in these conditions.
The molecules are agmatine and thiamine (also known as vitamin B1), and their role in protecting against glaucoma was discovered by researchers led by a team from the University of Missouri.
The scientists suggest that agmatine and thiamine could be used as biomarkers for earlier detection of glaucoma, allowing doctors to put preventative measures in place at an earlier stage.
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"In several cases, people do not find out they have glaucoma until they are older and their eye pressure is elevated," says ophthalmology researcher Pawan Singh, from the University of Missouri.
The molecules could also help with new treatments: boosting the levels of agmatine and thiamine in mice was shown to reduce inflammation in the retina, protect the retinal ganglion nerve cells (RGCs) that are typically damaged by glaucoma, and improve the vision of the animals.
The team examined a fluid in the eye called the aqueous humor in 19 glaucoma patients and 10 healthy people, testing for 135 different metabolites. Of those, agmatine and thiamine were found to be especially reduced in people with glaucoma.
"Agmatine and thiamine could be potential immunomodulatory or neuroprotective drugs to treat or prevent neuroinflammatory damage to the retina during glaucoma," write the researchers in their published paper.
The researchers also tested agmatine and thiamine on stressed mouse photoreceptor cells in the lab, finding more positive results: the chemicals reduced inflammation in the cells, and protected them from dying.
Glaucoma slowly leads to irreversible blindness, caused by damage to the nerves at the back of the eye. It's often, but not always, linked to elevated pressure in the eye – something that current treatments focus on.
Those treatments can only really slow down the disease though. Agmatine and thiamine show promise in stopping the progression of nerve cell damage in the eye, and perhaps reverse some of the damage that's already been done. However, a lot of further study is needed before this can be used to treat humans.
"Our long-term goal is to see if doctors could one day do a simple blood test to check for these biomarkers," says Singh.
"If they can, hopefully they will be able to catch the disease much earlier, before vision loss occurs, so patients can receive treatment sooner."
The research has been published in Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science.Author: David Nield. Source
