Results for “intraocular pressure”

DOE OSTI2022

Smart soft contact lenses for continuous 24-hour monitoring of intraocular pressure in glaucoma care

Continuous monitoring of intraocular pressure, particularly during sleep, remains a grand challenge in glaucoma care. Here we introduce a class of smart soft contact lenses, enabling the continuous 24-hour monitoring of intraocular pressure, even during sleep. Uniquely, the smart soft contact lenses are built upon various commercial brands of soft contact lenses without altering their intrinsic properties such as lens power, biocompatibility, softness, transparency, wettability, oxygen transmissibility, and overnight wearability. We show that the smart soft contact lenses can seamlessly fit across different corneal curvatures and thicknesses in human eyes and therefore accurately measure absolute intraocular pressure under ambulatory conditions. We perform a comprehensive set of in vivo evaluations in rabbit, dog, and human eyes from normal to hypertension to confirm the superior measurement accuracy, within-subject repeatability, and user comfort of the smart soft contact lenses beyond current wearable ocular tonometers. We envision that the smart soft contact lenses will be effective in glaucoma care.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2021

Structural Insights into the Mechanisms and Pharmacology of K 2P Potassium Channels

Leak currents, defined as voltage and time independent flows of ions across cell membranes, are central to cellular electrical excitability control. The K 2P (KCNK) potassium channel class comprises an ion channel family that produces potassium leak currents that oppose excitation and stabilize the resting membrane potential in cells in the brain, cardiovascular system, immune system, and sensory organs. Due to their widespread tissue distribution, K 2P s contribute to many physiological and pathophysiological processes including anesthesia, pain, arrythmias, ischemia, hypertension, migraine, intraocular pressure regulation, and lung injury responses. Structural studies of six homomeric K 2P s have established the basic architecture of this channel family, revealed key moving parts involved in K 2P function, uncovered the importance of asymmetric pinching and dilation motions in the K 2P selectivity filter (SF) C-type gate, and defined two K 2P structural classes based on the absence or presence of an intracellular gate. Further, a series of structures characterizing K 2P :modulator interactions have revealed a striking polysite pharmacology housed within a relatively modestly sized (~70 kDa) channel. Binding sites for small molecules or lipids that control channel function are found at every layer of the channel structure, starting from its extracellular side through the portion that interacts with the membrane bilayer inner leaflet. This framework provides the basis for understanding how gating cues sensed by different channel parts control function and how small molecules and lipids modulate K 2P activity. Such knowledge should catalyze development of new K 2P modulators to probe function and treat a wide range of disorders.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗