Glaucoma, the leading cause of visual impairment and irreversible blindness worldwide, is a multifactorial, progressive optic neuropathy characterized by loss of retinal ganglion cells, alterations of the optic nerve head, and specific visual field defects. Clinical evidence shows that intraocular pressure is the major risk factor of the treatable disease. However, in some patients, glaucoma develops and continues to progress despite normal intraocular pressure values, suggesting that other risk factors are involved in the disease. Consequently, neuroprotective treatments, focused on preventing retinal ganglion cells death by acting on different therapeutic strategies but not focused on intraocular pressure reduction, has therefore become of great interest. In this contest, coenzyme Q10, showing evidence in slowing or reversing pathological changes typical of the disease, has been proposed as a potential neuroprotective agent in glaucoma. In this review, we describe the possible mechanisms of action of coenzyme Q10 and the recent evidence in literature regarding the neuroprotective activity of the molecule.
Keywords: coenzyme Q10; glaucoma; intraocular pressure; mitochondrion; neurodegenerative diseases; neuroprotection; oral administration; retinal ganglion cells.