ACTA BIOLOGICA CRACOVIENSIA

16 TH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON CAROTENOIDS
Macular pigment changes after cataract
surgery with intraocular lens implantation
Akira Obana1,2 , Masaki Tanito3 , Yuko Gohto1 ,
Werner Gellermann 4 , Shigetoshi Okazaki2 , Akihiro Ohira3 1 Department of Ophthalmology, Seirei Hamamatsu General
Hospital, Sumiyoshi, Naka-ku, Hamamatsu City, 430-8558,
Japan.obana@sis.seirei.or.jp, yukogo@sis.seirei.or.jp
2 Department of Medical Spectroscopy, Applied Medical Photonics
Laboratory, Medical Photonics Research Center, Hamamatsu
University School of Medicine, Handayama, Higashi-ku,
Hamamatsu City, 431-3192, Japan, okazaki@hama-med.ac.jp
3 Department of Ophthalmology, Shimane University Faculty of
Medicine, Shiojicho, Izumo City, 693-8501, Japan,
mtanito@med.shimane-u.ac.jp, aohira@med.shimane-u.ac.jp
4 Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Utah,
Salt Lake City, Utah84112, USA, werner@physics.utah.edu
Purpose: Macular pigment optical density (MPOD) levels after
cataract surgery was compared between eyes with clear intraocular
lenses (IOLs) and yellow-tinted IOLs implantation.
Design: Prospective, comparative case series.
Patients and Methods:The data from 259 eyes (clear IOL
group, 121 eyes; yellow-tinted IOL group, 138 eyes) of 259
Japanese patients who met the inclusion criteria, i.e., a postoperative
visual acuity (VA) of 0.8 and better and no fundus diseases
were analyzed. Patients provided informed consent to participate
in this study based on the approval of the institutional review
board.MPOD levels were measured using resonance Raman spectroscopy
on day 1 (baseline value), months 1, 3, and 6, and years
1 and 2 postoperatively. The following parameters were analyzed
by multiple regression analysis: age, gender, body mass index,
smoking history, glaucoma, diabetes, preoperative VA, preoperative
refractive error, and IOL power and type.
Results: We found no significant differences in the baseline
characteristics between the two groups. Until 6 months postoperatively,
the MPOD levelsdid not differ significantly between the
groups. However, from 1 year onward, the levels were significantly
higher in the yellow-tinted IOL group compared with the
clear IOL group. By multiple regression analysis, 1 day postoperatively,
older age and diabetes were correlated with lower MPOD
levels; 1 year postoperatively and thereafter, however, lower
MPOD levelswere correlated with clear IOLs.
Conclusions: Cataract surgery with clear IOLs induced a greater
decrease in MPOD compared with yellow-tinted IOLs during a
longer follow-up period. The reason of the deterioration has not
been unclear, but excessive light exposure through clear IOLs might
beone reason.
Antioxidant properties of macular carotenoids
and their susceptibility to degradation:
protective and deleterious effects on cultured
retinal pigment epithelium
Małgorzata Różanowska 1 , Linda Bakker 1 , Michael E.
Boulton 2 , Anna Pawlak 3 , Bartosz Różanowski 4
1 School of Optometry and Vision Sciences, Cardiff University,
Maindy Road, CF24 4LU Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom,
RozanowskaMB@cf.ac.uk
2 Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Florida,
Gainesville, FL, USA, MEBoulton@ufl.edu
3 Department of Biophysics, Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics
and Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, ul. Gronostajowa 7,
30-387 Kraków, Poland, anna.pawlak@uj.edu.pl
4 Department of Genetics and Cell Biology, Institute of Biology,
Pedagogical University, Ul Podbrzezie 3, 31-358 Kraków, Poland,
rozanob@ap.krakow.pl
Lutein and zeaxanthin and their metabolites accumulate in the
human retina reaching submilimolar concentrations in the area
responsible for acute vision, the macula. These macular
carotenoids exhibit potent antioxidant properties in free radical
scavenging and particularly in quenching of singlet oxygen. The
retina requires efficient antioxidant protection because it is
inherently at risk of oxidative stress due to high oxygen tension,
extremely active mitochondrial metabolism, accumulation of
weakly chelated iron, exposure to visible light and abundant
polyunsaturated lipids, such as docosahexaenoate (DHA). Some
epidemiological studies indicate that people with dietary rich in
macular carotenoids are at lower risk of developing age-related
macular degeneration (AMD) – the major cause of blindness in
the elderly. AMD is associated with an increased oxidative stress
in the retina.
As a result of exposure to reactive oxygen species, carotenoids
are susceptible to degradation. Degradation products of lutein
and zeaxanthin obtained by exposure to autooxidized DHA, iron
ions, light or combinations thereof exhibit potent photosensitizing
properties (quantum yields of singlet oxygen generation of
~30%) and cytotoxicity to cultured human retinal pigment epithelial
cell line, ARPE-19. Vitamins C and E can inhibit macular
carotenoid degradation and therefore provide synergistic protection
against oxidative damage, even under conditions where
carotenoid alone exacerbates oxidative damage to ARPE-19 cells
and increases cytotoxicity. In turn, macular carotenoid can partly
protect from deleterious effects of vitamin C in photosensitized
damage. Our results demonstrate that there is a need for a very
intricate balance between different antioxidants to provide antioxidant
protection in vitro. Increasing concentration of a single
antioxidant, such as macular carotenoid, is inefficient as a way of
increasing antioxidant protection, and may even lead to deleterious
effects. Our results indicate that caution may be needed with
supplementation of the elderly with lutein and zeaxanthin, and
development of optimized antioxidant combination is required.
Lutein and zeaxanthin in the monkey retina –
results of a successful research collaboration
between academia and industry
Wolfgang Schalch
(for the Research Group listed in the acknowledgement)
DSM Nutritional Products, P.O.Box 3255, 4303 Kaiseraugst,
Switzerland, wolfgang.schalch@dsm.com
SESSION 7
This lecture reviews results of a lutein and zeaxanthin supplementation
experiment in 18 monkeys that had been fed a xanthophyll-free
diet since conception. Consequently, these monkeys
did not have any lutein or zeaxanthin in plasma nor was macular
pigment optical density (MPOD) detectable in their retinas.
12 of these monkeys were supplemented with pure (i.e. zeaxanthin-free,
see acknowledgement) lutein or zeaxanthin at 2.2. mg
per kg body weight and day for 56 weeks, while the remaining 6
monkeys were left on their original feed. A group of monkeys on
usual diet with normal levels of xanthophylls in plasma and macula
served as further control. During supplementation, plasma
xanthophylls as well as MPOD were monitored at regular intervals
and raised substantially, but without reaching levels
observed in monkeys on normal diets, indicating that the livelong
absence of xanthophylls may have impaired the ability to accumulate
xanthophylls.
At the end of the experiment, retinas were excised and analyzed
for various parameters. Morphologically, irregularities in
the cellular distribution profile in the RPE (Retinal Pigment
Epithelium) were found, which further indicated a possible con-
98 ACTA BIOLOGICA CRACOVIENSIA Series Botanica