Figure 1. Increased ROS production and diminished anti-oxidant potential in GLC cells. A: Illustration of the levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), a naturally occurring product of lipid peroxidation (an indicator of oxidative stress) in LC cells. Increased expression of MDA was found in glaucomatous LC cells (GLC) when compared with LC cells derived from normal donors (NLC; 27.19±7.05 µM MDA versu 14.59 µM MDA±0.82, p≤0.05, n=3). B: mRNA expression of enzymes associated with maintenance of oxidative homeostasis was analyzed. As can be seen, expression of AKR1C1 and GCLC are significantly lower in GLC cells (p=0.02) compared to NLC cells, expression normalized to NLC gene expression value. These results are suggestive of increased levels of oxidative stress and/or a compromised anti-oxidant state in cells from glaucomatous donors. Results are representative of 3 independent experiments with n=3 for NLC and GLC in each experiment.