Protective Role of Intramuscularly Administered Vitamin E on the Levels of Lipid Peroxidation and the Activities of Antioxidant Enzymes in the Lens of Rats Made Cataractous with Gamma-Irradiation

Abstract

Vitamin E has a protective effect on radiation-induced cataract by decreasing oxidative stress.

Superoxide dismutase activity in the lens capsule of patients with pseudoexfoliation syndrome and cataract

“…43 In 2 animal studies conducted by 1 study group, SOD activity was decreased in cataractous lenses of rats exposed to total cranial irradiation. 44,45 In 1 human study, SOD activity was significantly lower in diabetic cataractous lenses than in senile cataractous lenses. 46 The increased levels of SOD activity in eyes with PEX and cataract in our study may seem to contradict results in the aforementioned studies reporting that decreased SOD activity represents the depletion of the antioxidant capacity in the lens, leading to oxidative stress-induced cataract formation.…”

The Protective Effect of Curcumin on Ionizing Radiation-induced Cataractogenesis in Rats

“…The lens includes defense mechanisms as in other tissues that may protect it from the effects of oxidation. A decrease in the antioxidant defenses increases lens oxidation and this could be responsible for the development of cataract (11,16,17).…”

“…L-carnitine, melatonin, Ginkgo biloba, vitamin E, estrogen, metalloporphyrin and verapamil protected irradiation-induced cataract development by virtue of their antioxidant properties (2,11,12,16,17,19,22,23,40,41). The investigators measured MDA and the antioxidant enzyme levels such as SOD, catalase, total antioxidant in the lens tissues and graded the lens opacification.…”

Lipid Peroxidation After Ionizing Irradiation Leads to Apoptosis and Autophagy

“…In the murine model [14,[17][18][19]21], radiation-induced lipid peroxidation occurs in fetal brain cultures [14], liver [17][18][19], and serum [21] as well as in the ileum, as reported in this chapter. A wide range of agents has been shown to effectively inhibit radiation-induced lipid peroxidation, including Nacetylcysteine [15], melatonin [16], vitamin E [20,22], MnSOD-Plasmid Liposomes [14], leaf extract of Moringa oleifera [17], cinnamon extract [18], green tea polyphenol [21], hesperidin [19], and 17-DMAG [Lu and Kiang, unpublished data]. Since the response to radiation involves many signal transduction pathways, a combination of drugs targeting different signaling pathways may be a useful approach to address the difficult problem of protecting from ionizing radiation injury.…”

“…Gamma radiation has been shown to increase lipid peroxidation in a variety of biological systems. After gamma radiation exposure, levels of the lipid peroxidation indicator MDA have been shown to increase in brain [14], liver [15][16][17][18][19], lens [20], serum [21], and skeletal muscle [22] of rats as well as in bacteria [23].…”