Cataracts cloud the eyes of tens of millions of people worldwide and nearly 17.2% of Americans over 40 years now, the only treatment is surgery or scalpels cut -Lasers molecular grout that builds in the eye cataracts develop, and surgeons sometimes replace the lens. But now a team of scientists and ophthalmologists tested a solution in dogs that may be able to dissolve the cataract right out of the lens of the eye. And the solution is itself a solution :. Eye drops containing steroids
Although scientists do not fully understand how cataracts form, they know that the "fog" often seen by patients is a glob of broken proteins, glued together in a dysfunctional bunch . When health, these proteins, called crystalline, help eye lenses keep its structure and transparency. But like humans and animals alike older, the Crystalline proteins begin to disintegrate and lose their ability to function. Then they agglutinate and form a sheathlike obstruction in the lens, causing vision signature "wet glass" that accompanies the cataract.
Coming up with an alternative to the surgery was difficult. Scientists have been hunting for years to mutations in the Crystalline proteins that could provide new opportunities and open the way to another therapy. Now, it looks like a team led by the University of California (UC), San Diego, molecular biologist Ling Zhao was able to do that. His team came up with the idea of eye drops after finding that children with an inherited form of cataract shared a mutation that has stopped production of lanosterol, a major steroid in the body. When their parents are not the same mutation, adults lanosterol product and had no cataracts
Thus, the researchers wondered :. What if lanosterol helped prevent or reduce cataract? The team tested a lanosterol solution loaded in three separate experiments. First, they used human lens cells to test the effectiveness lanosterol decreased cataracts laboratory models. They have seen a significant decline. They then progressed to rabbits suffering from cataracts. At the end of the experience of 6 days, 11 of the 13 rabbits were parties to have serious or significant cataracts at a slight cataract or no cataracts. Finally, the team moved to dogs, using a group of seven, including black Labs, Queensland Heelers and Miniature Pinschers with cataracts naturally. Dogs have reacted as the researchers hoped lanosterol solution, which was given in the form of two eye injections and eye drops. lenses of dogs showed the same type of dissolution because the cells of the human lens and rabbits.
The improvement was remarkable, researchers could tell just by looking dog eye cataracts decreased. But the exact mechanism of how manages lanosterol to disperse the mass of proteins remains unknown.
"This is really complete and convincing the stronger paper that I saw of its kind in a decade," said Jonathan King, a molecular biologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge not affiliated in the study. He studied proteins cataract since 00. "They discovered the phenomena, then follow up with all the experiences that you should do that is biologically relevant as you can get."
Ruben Abagyan, co-author of the paper and a molecular biologist at UC San Diego, is eager to see what the lanosterol drops may dissolve following. "I think the natural next step is looking to translate in humans," he said. "There is nothing more exciting than that."
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