Abstract
Ultraviolet rays, smoking, and drugs are considered to be risk factors for presbyopia and age-related cataracts. These cause oxidative stress and glycative stress, therebyinducing disulfide bond (S-S bond) formation, followed by aggregation / denaturation and hardening of the nucleus of the lens protein, resulting in the formation of presbyopia and cataracts. Therefore, antioxidant treatment and anti-glycation treatment can be expected to have a preventive / suppressive effect on cataracts and presbyopia.
We have succeeded in delaying the progression of cataracts in the genetic cataract model, Shumiya Cataract Rat (SCR), by oral administration of an antioxidant lutein (LU) and anti-glycation water chestnut (Trapa bispinosa Roxb.) extract (TBE), where it was shown to increase the expression of the endogenous antioxidant protein peroxiredoxin 6 (Prdx6) and catalase in lens epithelial cells. Therefore, it can be effective in preventing cataracts to reduce not only the crystalline lens but also the whole body of oxidative and glycative stress and increase the endogenous antioxidant protein by ingesting antioxidants and anti-glycation supplements.
