The role of mitochondrial haplogroups in non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate a possible association between mitochondrial haplogroups and non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION).


METHODS
We compared the prevalence of various mitochondrial haplogroups in 24 NAION patients and 552 maternally unrelated ethnic controls. All patients and controls were Saudi Arabs.


RESULTS
NAION patients had substantially more potentially pathologic mtDNA nucleotide changes (10/24) than Controls (0/159) and a significantly elevated mean relative mtDNA content (2.62 +/- 1.21) than controls (1.33 +/- 0.34; p < or = 0.001). There was no statistically significant difference between patients and controls for any of the mitochondrial haplogroups tested.


CONCLUSIONS
Mitochondrial haplogroups do not appear to contribute to the pathogenesis of NAION in this cohort; however, mitochondrial abnormalities still seem likely to play a role.
Abu-Amero
Khaled K
KK
Mitochondrial Research Laboratory, Department of Genetics, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. abuamero@gmail.com
Larruga
Jose M
JM
González
Ana M
AM
Bosley
Thomas M
TM