Latanoprostene bunod effectively improves optic nerve blood flow

Topical latanoprostene bunod 0.024% significantly increased optic nerve head blood volume and oxygen saturation in healthy individuals compared with latanoprost, according to a study published in Optometry and Vision Science.

“Based on the improvements in optic nerve capillary blood flow and oxygen saturation seen in this study, the nitric oxide-donating property of latanoprostene bunod 0.024% may well prove useful as a neuroprotective agent for glaucoma,” Dan Samaha, OD, MSc, FAAO, of the Montreal University School of Optometry in Quebec, and colleagues wrote.

Researchers conducted a prospective, double-blind crossover study and recruited 23 healthy participants, aged 21 to 62 years, to assess the effect of topical latanoprostene bunod (LBN on optic nerve blood volume and oxygen saturation. They used multichannel spectroscopic reflectometry to measure baseline levels of optic nerve head capillary blood volume (ONHvol) and oxygen saturation (ONHSaO2) over a period of 2 hours and remeasured after a 7-day, once-daily instillation regimen of either latanoprost 0.005% or LBN 0.024%. Participants received the alternate treatment after a 30-day washout period, and measurements were repeated.

According to the study, LBN induced a 4% increase in ONHSaO2 with differing values across time points (P = .001 at 60 minutes, P < .001 at 90 minutes, P = .001 at 120 minutes). Notably, the average untreated IOP dropped from 14.7 mm Hg to 12.8 mm Hg after the 7-day regimen of latanoprost, while the LBN regimen resulted in a decrease to 11.8 mm Hg. The increase in ONHvol was 66.2% higher with LBN compared with levels achieved with latanoprost at the 60-minute mark (P = .001), 47% higher at the 90-minute mark (P < .001) and 45% higher at the 120-minute mark (P < .013). Further, LBN increased ONHvol more than twofold from baseline at each time mark. “Further longitudinal research is needed in glaucoma patients, in which dysfunction of optic nerve head autoregulation plays a key role in the development and progression of glaucomatous optic neuropathy,” Samaha and colleagues wrote. Healio