Curcumin: A new candidate for retinal disease therapy?

Abstract

The retina is the neural portion and light‐sensitive layer of the eye, which has been observed in most of the vertebrates. The retina is composed of light‐sensitive cells that absorb light and convert it into neural signals. These signals are sent to the brain for visual recognition. It has been shown that many pathogenesis conditions, including inflammation, angiogenesis, oxidative stress, and imbalanced histone modifications in the retina are associated with initiation and progression of retinal diseases (ie, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, and age‐related macular degeneration). Currently available treatments include laser surgery, freezing, stem‐cell therapy, shrinking abnormal blood vessels. It has some limitations, such as invasive methods, high costs, and many side effects. Hence, finding a new therapeutic platform for stopping or slowing of the disease progression is required. Curcumin is a natural product, which is associated with a wide range of properties, such as antioxidant, anti‐inflammatory, antiangiogenic, and antitumor activates. It exerts therapeutic effects via activation/inhibition cellular and molecular targets involved in various diseases, such as retinal diseases. Increasing evidence revealed that curcumin can be used as a therapeutic option in the treatment of different retinal diseases. Here, we summarized various clinical and preclinical studies that used curcumin as a therapeutic agent in the treatment of retinal disorders.

Retinal ganglion cell loss in an ex vivo mouse model of optic nerve cut is prevented by curcumin treatment

“…The protective effects of curcumin against apoptosis and oxidative damage have been already described in different in vitro and in vivo models of glaucoma [ 52 , 53 ]. In our experiments, curcumin was able to reduce RGC loss when RGCs were counted in NeuN staining and the RGC layer was measured in hematoxylin–eosin staining.…”

From Rust to Quantum Biology: The Role of Iron in Retina Physiopathology

“…Other natural molecules generally coming from plants, such as curcumin, polyphenols, and flavonoids, are iron chelators and have shown effectiveness in mouse models of retinal degeneration (for a review, see [186,187]).…”

La dégénérescence maculaire liée à l’âge: La piste du fer

“…agir, il est nécessaire 1) qu'ils ciblent uniquement l'organe ou le tissu qui est atteint par l'excès de fer ; 2) qu'ils présentent une demi-vie suffisante ; 3) qu'ils traversent les différentes barrières qui entourent le tissu ; et 4) qu'ils soient éliminés rapidement. Des biomolécules généralement issues de plantes, comme le curcumin, les polyphénols ou les flavonoïdes, sont des chélateurs du fer et ont montré une efficacité dans des modèles murins de dégénérescences rétiniennes [40,41].…”