Neurodegenerative Disorders of the Eye and of the Brain: A Perspective on Their Fluid-Dynamical Connections and the Potential of Mechanism-Driven Modeling

Neurodegenerative disorders (NDD) such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases are significant causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The pathophysiology of NDD is still debated, and there is an urgent need to understand the mechanisms behind the onset and progression of these heterogenous dis...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Frontiers in neuroscience 2020-11, Vol.14, p.566428-566428
Main Authors: Guidoboni, Giovanna, Sacco, Riccardo, Szopos, Marcela, Sala, Lorenzo, Verticchio Vercellin, Alice Chandra, Siesky, Brent, Harris, Alon
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
cerebrospinal fluid pressure
fluid-dynamics
glaucoma
Human health and pathology
intraocular pressure
Life Sciences
mathematical modeling
Mathematics
neurodegenerative disorders
Neurons and Cognition
Neuroscience
Sensory Organs
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Neurodegenerative disorders (NDD) such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases are significant causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The pathophysiology of NDD is still debated, and there is an urgent need to understand the mechanisms behind the onset and progression of these heterogenous diseases. The eye represents a unique window to the brain that can be easily assessed via non-invasive ocular imaging. As such, ocular measurements have been recently considered as potential sources of biomarkers for the early detection and management of NDD. However, the current use of ocular biomarkers in the clinical management of NDD patients is particularly challenging. Specifically, many ocular biomarkers are influenced by local and systemic factors that exhibit significant variation among individuals. In addition, there is a lack of methodology available for interpreting the outcomes of ocular examinations in NDD.Recently, mathematical modeling has emerged as an important tool capable of shedding light on the pathophysiology of multifactorial diseases and enhancing analysis and interpretation of clinical results. In this article, we review and discuss the clinical evidence of the relationship between NDD in the brain and in the eye and explore the potential use of mathematical modeling to facilitate NDD diagnosis and management based upon ocular biomarkers.
ISSN:1662-453X
1662-4548
1662-453X
DOI:10.3389/fnins.2020.566428