New Advances in Retinal Research: Basic, Clinical and Translational Approaches

Dear Colleagues,

The great value of the retina as a “genuine neural center” was recognized a century ago by the Spanish neuroscientist Santiago Ramón y Cajal. As part of the central nervous system, the retina is a window to the brain that provides an excellent and accessible tissue for detailed anatomical, physiological and pharmacological research. In addition, the easy in vivo observation of the retinal structure and its vascular network provides insight into the progress of pathologies that are not specific to the eye, such as neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Friedreich ataxia, and diabetes.

Retinal research is currently dealing with major causes of blindness, including some untreatable retinal diseases. Among them, retinal degenerative diseases represent one of the greatest challenges, as they lead to irreversible blindness. In recent years, researchers have proposed different therapeutic options that include therapies aimed at halting or slowing retinal degeneration such as neurotrophic factors; antiapoptotic, antioxidant or anti-inflammatory drugs; and therapies aimed at photoreceptor replacement such as stem-cell therapies and photoreceptor or retinal prosthetic transplants. However, there is currently no existing effective treatment capable of preventing, restoring or reversing retinal degeneration or, ultimately, preventing or reversing the devastating effects of retinal remodeling following photoreceptor loss. Furthermore, functional studies could, to a certain extent, allow us to predict or anticipate irreversible damage such as electroretinographic or visual-field defects in glaucoma patients with damage to the retinal ganglion cell axons that form the optic nerve. All of the above make retinal research an exciting field of study that deserves our full attention.

The present Special Issue, edited by Dr. García-Ayuso, Dr. Salobrar-García and Dr. Valiente-Soriano, will focus on the latest advances in retinal research, including basic, translational and clinical sciences, with the purpose of expanding the therapeutic perspective of retinal degeneration as well as the impact that certain systemic diseases can have on the retina.

Authors are cordially invited to contribute original research papers or reviews to this Special Issue of Life.

Dr. Diego García-Ayuso
Dr. Elena Salobrar-García
Dr. Francisco Javier Valiente-Soriano
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Life is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.