PubMed ID: 24205938
Author(s): Rasmussen CA, Kaufman PL, Kiland JA. Benzalkonium chloride and glaucoma. J Ocul Pharmacol Ther. 2014 Mar-Apr;30(2-3):163-9. doi: 10.1089/jop.2013.0174. Epub 2013 Nov 8. Review. PMID 24205938
Journal: Journal Of Ocular Pharmacology And Therapeutics : The Official Journal Of The Association For Ocular Pharmacology And Therapeutics, Volume 30, Issue 2 3, 2014
Glaucoma patients routinely take multiple medications, with multiple daily doses, for years or even decades. Benzalkonium chloride (BAK) is the most common preservative in glaucoma medications. BAK has been detected in the trabecular meshwork (TM), corneal endothelium, lens, and retina after topical drop installation and may accumulate in those tissues. There is evidence that BAK causes corneal and conjunctival toxicity, including cell loss, disruption of tight junctions, apoptosis and preapoptosis, cytoskeleton changes, and immunoinflammatory reactions. These same effects have been reported in cultured human TM cells exposed to concentrations of BAK found in common glaucoma drugs and in the TM of primary open-angle glaucoma donor eyes. It is possible that a relationship exists between chronic exposure to BAK and glaucoma. The hypothesis that BAK causes/worsens glaucoma is being tested experimentally in an animal model that closely reflects human physiology.