Cataract is clouding of the eye lens that reduces the amount of incoming light and results in deteriorating vision.
Blindness is thought to reach 75 million by 2020. Of these, unoperated
cataract may be expected to account for at least 35 million. Thus, the burden of
cataract is increasing remorselessly. Embelica officinalis is reported to have a very good
antioxidant property and thus we hypothesized that it could be a good candidate in treatment of
cataract. Hence, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of aqueous extract of Embelica officinalis on
selenite induced
cataract in rats. For the purpose of this study,
cataract was induced in young suckling (on the 10(th) day of life) albino wistar rats using
sodium selenite (a single dose of
sodium selenite; 20μM/kg; subcutaneously). After induction of
cataract, the test
drug (Embelica Officinalis) and the reference standard (
ascorbic acid) were administered orally for 18 days. The progression or disappearance of
cataract was observed with the help of an ophthalmoscope (OM-18, Takagi resolution 1.6). At the end of this study the alterations in the levels of total
protein, soluble
protein,
reduced glutathione and
malondialdehyde were estimated in the lens homogenate. Results showed that treatment with Embelica officinalis, as well as
ascorbic acid, produced a significant decrease (p < 0.05) in
malondialdehyde and a simultaneous increase in lens
glutathione levels (p < 0.05). The
malondialdehyde content was decreased by 48% in animals treated with Embelica officinalis. Similarly, lens
glutathione was increased by 82.5% in animals treated with Embelica officinalis. There was also a significant (p < 0.05) increase in
protein content (total
protein = 59.36% and soluble
protein = 105.78%) in animals treated with Embelica officinalis, indicating improvement in cataractogenic condition in the
selenite induced
cataract model. At the end of the treatment, disappearance of
cataract was observed in test and standard treated animals. In conclusion, it could be said that aqueous extract of Embelica officinalis delayed the progression of
cataract in
sodium selenite induced cataractogenic rats.