Dear Colleagues,

Our previous Special Issue on “Oxidative Stress and Inflammation in Retinal Degeneration” (https://0-www-mdpi-com.brum.beds.ac.uk/journal/antioxidants/special_issues/oxidative_stress_retinal_degeneration), published in the 2021 volume of Antioxidants, received an overwhelming number of submissions, and was  a successful compilation of research and review articles. As this a rapidly evolving topic in the field of vision science research and much remains to be learned, we would like to further explore the role of oxidative stress and inflammation in retinal degeneration with a follow-up Special Issue for the year 2022. Robust experimental evidence points to a prominent role of inflammation and oxidative stress in the pathogenesis of many degenerative diseases of the retina (e.g., age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, retinal vein occlusion, retinitis pigmentosa). This is supported by confirmatory studies conducted using human ocular tissues. The retina is consistently exposed to high levels of oxidative stress as a normal consequence of significant light exposure, visual signal transduction pathways that generate considerable amounts of reactive oxygen species, the oxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids, etc. Normal healthy retinal cells do an excellent job of squelching pro-oxidant factors to maintain homeostasis. However, in aging and/or disease, the efficiency of these normal homeostatic mechanisms often declines, disrupting the balance between pro- and anti-oxidative signaling. This contributes to excessive oxidative stress, related inflammation, dysregulated immune responses, potential blood–retinal barrier compromise, and tissue damage. Thus, better understanding the mechanisms governing the cellular and molecular events that underlie the switch that precipitates the failure of the retina to respond adequately to oxidative and/or inflammatory insults, leaving the tissue susceptible to degenerative processes, may support the discovery of new therapeutic targets to prevent and treat irreversible vision loss and blindness. As such, this second Special Issue welcomes submissions of original research and review articles, commentaries, brief reports, and clinical trials related to any aspect of the role of oxidative stress and inflammation in pathogenic retinal degeneration, the identification and exploration of novel targets, and the development and testing of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory therapies.

Dr. Pamela M. Martin
Dr. Ravirajsinh N. Jadeja
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• retinal degeneration
• antioxidants
• oxidative stress
• age-related macular degeneration
• retinal inflammation
• therapeutic targets
• aging retina