Farid A Badria, Diaaeldin M Elimam and Ahmed S Ibrahim
Mansoura University, Egypt
The most common secondary diabetic complication is cataract, the opacity of the lens that produces painless gradual loss of vision. Diabetic cataract is usually acquired during persistence hyperglycemia through increasing the glucose level greatly in eye lens where glucose entry is independent of insulin. This excess glucose is metabolized via an accessory pathway known as the polyol pathway. Activation of this pathway leads to the accumulation of the osmolyte sorbitol in eye lens resulting in osmotic swelling and subsequent hydropic lens fibers that degenerate to form sugar cataracts.A number of structurally diverse compounds inhibit aldose reductase significantly; many of these compounds possess poor pharmacokinetic properties or side-effects not associated with the specific inhibition of aldose reductase. These problems reflect a need for the development of new, more effective and safe drug which may raise the therapeutic benefits for diabetic patients. Therefore, a renewed interest in use of plant-based medicine in the area of health care has been promoted. Olive leaf extract (OLE) as well as Ginkgo leaf extract (GLE) are natural supplements that have wide therapeutic indices with very low toxicity. The present study sought to evaluate the biochemical effectiveness of OLE and GLE on cataract formation during hyperglycemia and to gain insight into the inhibition mechanism involved therein.
Email: faridbadria@gmail.com
