Citicoline, a chemical known to protect nerve cells, also slows glaucoma, as shown by results of a new animal study led by researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. Prior studies have shown glaucoma to continue to worsen even after eye pressure has been controlled. The connection between pressure buildup and impaired vision remains poorly understood.

Published in Neurotherapeutics, the new study showed that ingesting the compound citicoline restored optic nerve signals between the brain and eye to near normal levels in the study rats. Naturally produced in the brain but also available commercially, citicoline is a major source of choline, a building block in the membranes that line nerve cells and enhance nerve cell communication.

While the study results confirmed past findings showing that elevated eye pressure contributes to nerve damage in glaucoma, they also showed that citicoline reduced vision loss in rats without reducing fluid pressure in the eye.

"Our study suggests that citicoline protects against glaucoma through a mechanism different from that of standard treatments that reduce fluid pressure," says senior study author Kevin Chan, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Ophthalmology at NYU Langone Health. "Since glaucoma interrupts the connection between the brain and eye, we hope to strengthen it with new types of therapies.”