School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-2020
Abstract
People afflicted with diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration experience a decline in vision due to photoreceptor degeneration, which is currently unstoppable and irreversible. Currently there is no cure for diseases linked to photoreceptor degeneration. Recent experimental work showed that mesencephalic astrocyte-derived neurotrophic factor (MANF) can reduce neuron death and, in particular, photoreceptor death by reducing the number of cells that undergo apoptosis. In this work, we build on an existing system of ordinary differential equations that represent photoreceptor interactions and incorporate MANF treatment for three experimental mouse models having undergone varying degrees of photoreceptor degeneration. Using MANF treatment levels as controls, we investigate optimal control results in the three mouse models. In addition, our numerical solutions match the experimentally observed surviving percentage of photoreceptors and our uncertainty and sensitivity analysis identifies significant parameters in the math model both with and without MANF treatment.
Recommended Citation
Camacho, Erika T., Suzanne Lenhart, Luis A. Melara, M. Cristina Villalobos, and Stephen Wirkus. "Optimal control with MANF treatment of photoreceptor degeneration." Mathematical Medicine and Biology: A Journal of the IMA 37, no. 1 (2020): 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1093/imammb/dqz003
Publication Title
Mathematical Medicine and Biology
DOI
10.1093/imammb/dqz003
Comments
Original published version available at https://doi.org/10.1093/imammb/dqz003