Regulation of Optic Nerve Head Blood Flow During Combined Changes in Intraocular Pressure and Arterial Blood Pressure

Autoregulation is the ability of a vascular bed to maintain blood flow despite changes in perfusion pressure. The existence of an effective autoregulation in the optic nerve head (ONH) circulation has been shown in animals and humans. Moderate elevation of intraocular pressure (IOP) caused only slight effect on ONH blood flow in monkeys, cats and rabbits. In humans, during an artificial IOP rise using a suction cup method the ONH blood flow maintains almost constant until IOP reaches 40-55 mmHg. During isometric exercise the upper limit of autoregulation appears to be approximately 40% above the baseline ocular perfusion pressure. The mechanism behind ONH blood flow autoregulation is still unknown. The present experiments are designed to improve the investigators' knowledge of the physiology of regulatory mechanisms in ONH circulation, which may be helpful for a better understanding of blood flow abnormalities in glaucoma. This is of importance, because there is increasing evidence that vascular dysregulation plays a role in the development of glaucomatous damage.