The Changes Within the Cells of the Drainage System of the Eye in Patients With Glaucoma

During a routine trabeculectomy surgery, a corneo-scleral block that includes TM tissue will be collected at the operating room. This tissue is routinely removed during every trabeculectomy surgery. The tissue will be stored immediately in normal saline at 4 degrees Celsius, and walked directly to the Jefferson Center for Translational Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University by the Wills eye glaucoma research fellow. TM tissue will be identified using light microscope base on TM cell pigmentation. The ocular tissue will be fixed and placed in pre-cooled fixative on ice for 1 hour. The lengths of mitochondrial cross sections at the longest extent will be measured under electron microscopy (EM) in order to identify the mitochondrial dynamics. Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR) will be done to identify proteins responsible for mitochondrial fusion.