Myopia: Proceedings of the 12th International Conference

This symposium gave an overview on the current status of the research\udon the signalling cascades which link retinal image processing to scleral\udgrowth. Messengers are released from the retina, reach the retinal pigment\udepithelium, RPE (most likely by diffusion), stimulate its receptors to release\udsecondary messengers from the RPE that are finally transmitted\udthrough the choroid. Regan Ashby, Postdoctoral fellow in the RTN\ud“MyEuropia” (Tuebingen, Germany) reported on the modulation of\udthe immediate early gene Egr1 by imposed defocus, and on work\udunderway to identify its potential target genes. Marita Feldkaemper,\udsame place, described the roles of the glucagon/insuline system, with\udthe striking finding that insulin is a most potent stimulator of myopia\udin the chicken model. Katrina Schmidt (Brisbane) reported on the\udroles of dopaminergic and cholinergic transmission, as well as GABA,\udand how these two transmitter systems interact. Deborah Nickla (NewEnco,\udBoston) focused on the interaction of nitric oxide signalling\udwith muscarinic and dopaminergic transmission, and how they affect\udchoroidal thickening - an effect that is tightly related to eye growth\udinhibition. Finally, Andrew Jobling (University of Melbourne) described the\udend of the signalling cascade in the sclera, involving TGF-beta, matrix metalloproteinases\udand cell-specific matrix cell receptors, the integrins, to remodel\udits structure and growth