Stress Responses in Ocular Tissues

Call for Papers

Stress response mediators function in organ systems and cellular networks to respond and adapt to environmental insults by maintaining homeostasis. Hypoxia, malnutrition, inflammation, infections, and physical pressure are common stressors sensed by membrane receptors, enzymes (kinases, phosphatases, and proteases), and transcription factors. These activate complex signaling cascades in multiple organelles to mount appropriate responses that include endoplasmic reticulum (ER) hyperactivity, mitochondrial biogenesis, and nuclear histone methylation. However, if dysregulated, these elaborate adaptive responses may actually promote pathogenesis.

The eye is an extension of the central nervous system with unique properties that make it susceptible to diverse environmental insults. To preserve vision, light must pass through several cellular layers and be focused directly on the retina, which contains the most metabolically demanding cells in the body (photoreceptors) and an elaborate and high-flow vascular network to supply adequate amounts of oxygen and nutrients. Photoreceptors must be protected from excessive light, and the relative immune privileges of the eye must be maintained. Additionally, the eye is exposed to the external environment and sensitive to circulating hormones and paracrine mediators. Consequently, stress responses are finely tuned in the eye and understanding these fundamental processes will help expand therapies to prevent debilitating vision loss.Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Hypoxia responses mediated by HIFs
• Energy metabolism responses mediated by AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR)
• Inflammatory responses mediated by nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB)
• Oxidative responses mediated by ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM) and nuclear respiratory factors (NRFs)
• Unfolded protein response (UPR) or ER stress mediated by activating transcription factor 6 (ATF6)

Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal's Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jop/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/submit/journals/jop/msro/ according to the following timetable:

Lead Guest Editor

• Toshihide Kurihara, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan

Guest Editors

• Jean-Sébastien Joyal, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
• Yoshihiko Usui, Tokyo Medical University, Tokyo, Japan
• Peter D. Westenskow, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA