A previously unknown cleansing system was discovered in the eye. This may help in the fight against blindness

For more than a hundred years, scientists believed that, unlike most other organs, the eye has no lymphatic vessels of its own. They help remove excess fluid and metabolic products from tissues, and also play a role in the body's immune defense.

These ideas began to change in 2009, when researchers discovered a lymphatic system-related fluid outflow pathway in the front of the eye. However, how fluid and metabolic products are removed from the back of the eye remained poorly understood for a long time.

This is especially important for the retina — the light-sensitive membrane of the eye, which consumes a lot of energy and constantly produces metabolic products. It is the retina and adjacent tissues that suffer in a number of severe diseases that can lead to irreversible vision loss.

Unknown fluid outflow pathway

As reported by ScienceDaily, researchers from the University of British Columbia and the University of Toronto conducted a series of experiments on mice to determine how fluid is drained from the back of the eye.

To do this, they injected special fluorescent markers into the narrow space at the back of the eyeball and then tracked their movement using magnetic resonance imaging, infrared imaging, and microscopy.

Researchers discovered tiny lymphatic vessels under the retina of the eye, the existence of which was previously unknown. They traced how fluid exits the back of the eye into the tissues, and from there enters the body's lymphatic system. The markers introduced by the scientists were found in the nearest lymph nodes within minutes.

The discovered pathway was named POLO — from the English posterior ocular lymphatic outflow.

Scientists believe that this system may help remove excess fluid, proteins, and substances associated with inflammation.

Will the discovery help in the fight against blindness?

The discovery may be important for the study of glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, and other diseases that lead to deterioration or loss of vision. Their development can be accompanied by fluid regulation disorders, accumulation of metabolic products, and inflammatory processes.

If researchers can figure out how to enhance the work of the new cleansing system, it could help develop treatments aimed at protecting the retina. Additionally, studying this pathway may open new possibilities for delivering drugs to deep structures of the eye.

However, for now, these are only prospects. The POLO system was discovered in mice, and scientists still need to find out how it works in humans and whether disruptions in its activity affect the development of diseases.

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