Alan M. Laties, MD

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				Alan M. Laties, M.D. Professor, Dept of Ophthalmology School of Medicine D603 Richards Building (215) 898-6508 FAX: (215) 898-0528 email: laties@mail.med.upenn.edu Click here for selected publications since Dr. Laties' arrival at Penn RESEARCH INTERESTS Ocular anatomy and physiology; myopia RESEARCH TECHNIQUES Immunocytochemistry of nerves - chiefly neurotransmitters; fluorescence microscopy RESEARCH SUMMARY The chief activities of the laboratory concern the participation of neurotransmitters and neurohormones in growth and development of the eye. In large part this leads to study of the development of innervation patterns to specific structures in an attempt to establish the relevance of innervation to ocular function. For instance, the common ophthalmological disorder, glaucoma, stems from a fault either in the control of aqueous inflow or from the management of aqueous outflow. In turn, the structures concerned with aqueous production and aqueous outflow are innervated in varying proportions by different segments of the nervous system. Recently, a series of projects has begun on the relationship between innervation and development of the eye. Since the eye continues to grow for many years after birth, the study is geared in good measure to juvenile animals. In juvenile chicks and monkeys, eyelid closure to one side followed by the development of myopia on that side has the result of ocular overgrowth. Much effort is currently underway to achieve an understanding of the precise mechanism by which ocular growth is regulated and through which there is a failure of regulation resulting in axial myopia.