Entre las enfermedades oculares más prevalentes, los trastornos de la superficie ocular, la uveítis, el glaucoma, la retinopatía diabética y la degeneración macular relacionada con la edad (que afecta principalmente a las personas mayores, pero también a la población joven y adulta), son causas principales de discapacidad visual y ceguera irreversible en todo el mundo. Muchas de estas patologías no tienen una cura definitiva.

Archivos de la Sociedad Española de Oftalmología invites the scientific community to submit original articles and reviews addressing pathophysiological mechanisms of neurodegeneration in different settings, visual biomarkers in neurodegenerative diseases, new therapeutic targets and neuroprotective strategies for the treatment of optic nerve and retinal pathologies, neuroprotective drug delivery systems with preclinical or clinical relevance and future perspectives.

Among the most prevalent eye diseases, ocular surface disorders, uveitis, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, age related-macular degeneration (mainly affecting the elderly but also the young and adult population), are major causes of visual disability and irreversible blindness worldwide. Much of these pathologies has no definitive cure. A wide variety of endogenous/exogenous risk factors and pathogenic mechanisms have been identified, but many remain still unknown. Nutritional habits influence the risk of suffering diverse pathologies. The important choice of eating healthy may help counteracting the course of ocular diseases. Several randomized, controlled clinical trials as well as experimental models, have been recently set up to evaluate the efficacy of natural food and nutraceutics as first-line coadjutants for ophthalmic diseases. Bioactive nutrients have been identified as protective factors against eye diseases. Therefore, from the large spectrum of lifestyle influences, dietary habits are increasingly recognized as a modifiable element that may affect a patient's risk of suffering eye diseases. Current understanding (and the areas of ongoing research) about the management of nutrition, nutritional genetics and eye health, and other closely-related issues, are important topics that will be fully considered in this Special Issue.

Las patologías que afectan al nervio óptico y a la retina constituyen una de las principales causas de ceguera irreversible. Entre ellas destacan la degeneración macular asociada a la edad (DMAE), la retinopatía diabética, las distrofias retinianas hereditarias y el glaucoma. La pérdida neuronal progresiva presente en estas enfermedades sigue siendo un reto clínico de primer orden. En este contexto, la neuroprotección emerge como una estrategia terapéutica clave para preservar la estructura y función de las neuronas visuales.