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To investigate global protein expression profiles in the retinas of normal and glucocorticoid-induced ocular hypertensive rats by proteomic analysis.Ocular hypertension was induced by topical application of dexamethasone (DEX) for 4 weeks. Age-matched untreated rats served as controls. Intraocular pressure (IOP) was monitored by an electronic tonometer. Retinal protein expression profiling was carried out by two-dimensional fluorescence difference gel electrophoresis (2-D DIGE). Proteins were identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry.In DEX-treated rats, average IOP was elevated significantly compared with controls. With DEX treatment, levels of four proteins were altered, as revealed by 2-D DIGE and MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry: apolipoprotein A1 (apoA1), a lipid-binding protein, upregulated 1.9-fold, P0.05; alpha A crystallin (CRYAA), a molecular chaperone, downregulated 2.7-fold, P0.01; superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1), an antioxidant enzyme, downregulated 2.3-fold, P0.05; and triosephosphate isomerase 1 (TPI1), a glycolytic enzyme, downregulated 2.3-fold, P0.01.Downregulation of CRYAA, SOD1, and TPI1, observed here after a short period of DEX-induced ocular hypertension, may be involved in the onset of neural damage in steroid-induced glaucoma.

To determine the prevalence of uveal effusion in acute and chronic primary angle-closure glaucoma (PACG) or primary angle closure (PAC) and to compare it with the prevalence in eyes with open-angle glaucoma (OAG) or ocular hypertension.Prospective consecutive case series.Five hundred one eyes of 351 consecutive patients with PAC and 156 eyes of 116 randomly selected primary OAG or ocular hypertension patients. The PAC group included 40 eyes of 35 patients with acute PACG and 30 unaffected fellow eyes, 39 eyes and 35 fellow eyes with a history of acute PACG, and 357 eyes with chronic PAC.Ultrasound biomicroscopic examination was performed to diagnose uveal effusion and to measure anterior chamber depth (ACD).Presence of uveal effusion and ACD.Uveal effusion was demonstrated in 23 eyes (58%) with acute PACG and 7 fellow eys (23%) (chi2 = 8.17, P = 0.0043). Among eyes with chronic PAC, uveal effusion was present in 69 [corrected](14%[corrected]), a higher prevalence than was found in open-angle patients (2 eyes [1.3%]) (chi2 = 19.3, P0.001). In the chronic PAC group, the ACD of phakic eyes with uveal effusion (1.92+/-0.42 mm) was significantly shallower than that of phakic eyes without effusion (2.06+/-0.32 mm) (P = 0.019).Uveal effusion diagnosed by ultrasound biomicroscopy is a special feature in PAC, and is prevalent in acute PACG. Uveal effusion in phakic eyes with PAC is associated with shallowing of ACD.

Rap2 belongs to the Ras family of small GTP-binding proteins, but its specific roles in cell signaling remain unknown. In the present study, we have affinity-purified from rat brain a Rap2-interacting protein of approximately 155 kDa, p155. By liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry, we have identified p155 as Traf2- and Nck-interacting kinase (TNIK). TNIK possesses an N-terminal kinase domain homologous to STE20, the Saccharomyces cerevisiae mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase kinase, and a C-terminal regulatory domain termed the citron homology (CNH) domain. TNIK induces disruption of F-actin structure, thereby inhibiting cell spreading. In addition, TNIK specifically activates the c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) pathway. Among our observations, TNIK interacted with Rap2 through its CNH domain but did not interact with Rap1 or Ras. TNIK interaction with Rap2 was dependent on the intact effector region and GTP-bound configuration of Rap2. When co-expressed in cultured cells, TNIK colocalized with Rap2, while a mutant TNIK lacking the CNH domain did not. Rap2 potently enhanced the inhibitory function of TNIK against cell spreading, but this was not observed for the mutant TNIK lacking the CNH domain. Rap2 did not significantly enhance TNIK-induced JNK activation, but promoted autophosphorylation and translocation of TNIK to the detergent-insoluble cytoskeletal fraction. These results suggest that TNIK is a specific effector of Rap2 to regulate actin cytoskeleton.

Purpose: To investigate global protein expression profiles in the trabecular meshwork (TM) of normal and glucocorticoid-induced ocular hypertensive rat eyes by proteomic analysis, which has not yet been conducted to date. Materials and Methods: A rat ocular hypertension model was produced by topical application of dexamethasone (DEX) for 4 weeks. Age-matched untreated rats served as controls. Intraocular pressure (IOP) was monitored by an electronic tonometer. TM protein expression profiling and protein identification was carried out by a two-dimensional fluorescence differential gel electrophoresis (2-D DIGE) system and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry, respectively. Results: In DEX-treated rats, average IOP was elevated significantly, as compared with controls. By the DEX treatment, 14 TM protein spots were up- or downregulated consistently in 2-D DIGE analyses. Proteins exhibiting more than 2-fold statistically significant change were identified by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. αA-Crystallin and βA3-crystallin were upregulated, while the C-propeptides of type I collagen were downregulated. Conclusion: Relatively short-term glucocorticoid application induced alteration in the expression of a number of proteins, including downregulation of type I collagen C-propeptides. This could reflect impaired collagen turnover in the TM of glucocorticoid-treated eyes.

Purpose To study the prevalence of ciliochoroidal effusion (CE) after prophylactic laser iridotomy (LI). Methods An ultrasound biomicroscope (UBM) examination was performed before, 2, and 24 hours after LI to investigate the changes in supraciliary-choroidal space after LI in circumference of 38 eyes in 23 chronic primary angle-closure patients. Subjects were divided randomly into two groups based on LI settings: 21 eyes by argon laser (Ar-LI group) and argon combined with yttrium-aluminum-garnet (YAG) laser in 17 eyes (Ar-YAG-LI group). Results Ciliochoroidal effusion was observed predominantly in the inferior sector (12 of 12 eyes, 100%) and rare in nasal part of the eyes (4 of 12 eyes, 33%). Ciliochoroidal effusion appeared more often in the Ar-LI group (10 eyes, 52%) than in the Ar-YAG-LI group (2 eyes, 12%). All CE disappeared 7 days after by UBM observation. Conclusions Subclinical CE observed by UBM frequently occurs after LI.

The quality of The Journal of Headache and Pain depends on the qualified and regular collaboration of renowned scientists, who devoted their time to constructively review the submitted articles. We are indebted to the following experts who reviewed papers that completed the peer-reviewing process within 2014. M.A. Al-Jumah (Riyadh) A.P. Andreou (London) A. Antal (Gottingen) F. Antonaci (Pavia) R. Arcioni (Rome) A. Ashkenazi (Doylestown) M. Ashina (Copenhagen) S. Ashina (New York) T. Bartsch (Kiel) E. Beghi (Milano) A.C. Belin (Stockholm) L. Bendtsen (Copenhagen) R. Benoliel (Jerusalem) L. Berliocchi (Catanzaro) M. Bjorn Russell (Oslo) A. Bozzao (Rome) Correspondence: valerio.deangelis@uniroma1.it Assistant to the Editor, The Journal of Headache and Pain, Via di Grottarossa 1035, 00189 Rome, Italy © 2015 De Angelis; licensee Springer. This is an Attribution License (http://creativecommons.or in any medium, provided the original work is p F. Brighina (Palermo) O. Bruni (Rome) J.M. Bugnicourt (Amiens) R. Cady (Springfield) L. Cao (Biddeford) S. Ceruti (Milan) S. Cevoli (Bologna) A. Charles (Los Angeles) T.C. Chaves (Ribeirao Preto) G. Coloprisco (Rome) G. Coppola (Latina) S. Cortese (Verona) C. Costa (Perugia) M. Davis (Rochester) M. de Tommaso (Bari) C. Di Lorenzo (Latina) V. Di Piero (Rome) Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons g/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction roperly credited. De Angelis The Journal of Headache and Pain (2015) 16:16 Page 2 of 3 H.C. Diener (Essen) A. Donnet