Professor Jonathan Crowston

Researchers from the Centre for Eye Research Australia (CERA) have started a six-month clinical trial to see if high-dose vitamin B3 (nicotinamide) can support existing therapies for glaucoma by protecting nerve cells from dying.

“We have recently discovered that in the early stages after an injury, visual function can, in fact, recover but the ability to recover diminishes with increasing age.”, said Professor Jonathan Crowston, study lead. “We have developed clinical tests which will allow us to look for visual recovery in the clinic and are beginning to look at treatment that could boost recovery. Our premise is that if you can improve optic nerve recovery after an injury then we can reduce the risk of glaucoma progressing.”

Dr Flora Hui is conducting the study and says she hopes it will confirm that vitamin B3 can protect nerve cells from dying, in a similar way to how adding oil to a faulty car engine allows it to run more smoothly. “Imagine your car’s engine is running a bit rough and as a result, the car doesn’t drive smoothly. If you top up the engine with oil, the car runs better, even though you haven’t fixed the underlying problem.”