Evaluation of Anti Cataract Activity of Some Indigenous Medicinal Plants Linum Usitatissimum Linn And Garcinia Indica

Abstract

Cataract simply means clouding or opacification of eye lens. Cataract is newlineconsidered to be the leading cause of blindness worldwide. It is a multifactorial newlinedisease wherein several biochemical processes like oxidative stress, calpaininduced newlineproteolysis, protein (crystallins) precipitation, altered eye lens epithelial newlinecell metabolism, calcium accumulation, are responsible for causing cataract. newlineMoreover, cataract is also one of the secondary complications of diabetes newlinemellitus. At present, surgery is the only treatment option for cataract in which the newlinecataractous lens is substituted with a synthetic lens made of synthetic polymers. newlineSurgery has its demerits in terms of cost and possible complications. Also, an newlineartificial lens does not have overall optical qualities as that of a natural lens. newlinePharmacological breakthrough for cataract treatment is still awaited. In a country newlinelike India whose population is ageing, so as the cataract cases, require some newlineimmediate solution to reduce the burden on the medical establishment. Hence it newlineis important to look into alternative pharmacological measures for the treatment newlineof this disorder. Much eagerness is being laid on the identification of natural newlinecompounds that will help to prevent cataractogenesis. newlineThe present study aimed to evaluate the anti-cataract activity of ethanolic extract newlineof Linum usitatissimum Linn. (ELU) and aqueous extract of Garcinia indica (GI) newlineusing animal models like selenite induced cataract (In vitro and In vivo models), newlinenaphthalene induced cataract and streptozotocin (STZ) induced cataract. newlineDuring the course of selenite (In- vitro and In-vivo) and naphthalene induced newlinecataract model, activities of various enzymatic antioxidants like superoxide newlinedismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione reductase (GR), glutathione newlineperoxidase (GPx) and non-enzymatic antioxidant glutathione (GSH) were newlineevaluated. Additionally, total protein content, Malondialdehyde (MDA) and lipid newlinehydroperoxides (LH) were also estimated. ELU and AGI at the doses of 200 and 400 mg/kg significantly