Worldwide glaucoma is a leading cause of irreversible blindness and its incidence is increasing as the population ages as it is an age-related disease. Its onset is insidious as it rarely causes symptoms and many patients are not aware of any visual field loss. Primary Open Angle Glaucoma (POAG) is the main type of Glaucoma, next being secondary angle closure glaucoma and is an economically significant disease. Chronic raised intraocular pressure leads to damage at the optic nerve head with consequent visual field loss and little is known about the precise underlying pathologic mechanism(s). Cross-Linked Actin Networks (CLANs) are triangular polygonal arrangements comprised of actin; these form geodesic dome arrangements. We have recently demonstrated that bovine TM cells exposed to dexamethasone upregulate CLAN incidence far more robustly compared to human cells, this gave us a model to probe functional affects of CLANs on TM cells. The aim of this study was to determine the functional effects of CLANs in the bovine TM and also to determine to heat shock protein response. Primary TM cells were cultured from bovine eyes (obtained from an abattoir) and we employed a collagen contraction model to examine the effect of CLANs on cell contraction. Moreover we examined the effects of CLANs on cell viability and apoptosis using standard techniques. In addition we determined the expression of Heat shock proteins 70, heat shock cognate 70 as well as the enzyme manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) using Western Blotting and the inflammatory cytokine Interleukin-6 (IL-6) by E.L.I.S.A. Results showed that CLANs inhibited matrix contraction in the 2D model but not 3D model of contraction (P<0.01). There was no significant increase in apoptosis in association with CLAN incidence. There was a significant increase in expression of inducible (ten fold change) Hsp70 that was time-dependant and also hsc70 (P<0.001). MnSOD expression was also increased in response to CLANs as was the expression of inflammatory cytokine IL-6 as measured using ELISA (P<0.01). These data demonstrate a functional impairment of TM cells in response to CLANs and that it is not related to cellular death. Moreover, there is significantly increased expression of Hsps, antioxidant enzyme and a proinflammatory cytokine, that may impinge on cellular function.