Retinal Toxicity Induced by Chemical Agents

• Published in: International journal of molecular sciences Vol. 23; no. 15; p. 8182
• Main Authors: Souza Monteiro de Araújo, Daniel, Brito, Rafael, Pereira-Figueiredo, Danniel, Dos Santos-Rodrigues, Alexandre, De Logu, Francesco, Nassini, Romina, Zin, Andrea, Calaza, Karin C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 25.07.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Blood vessels; Blood-Retinal Barrier; Cell death; Degeneration; Food contamination; Homeostasis; Humans; Information processing; Insecticides; Macular degeneration; medicinal; medicinal herbs; Microorganisms; Natural products; Nervous system; Neurotoxicity; Pesticides; Photoreceptor Cells; Photoreceptors; Retina; Retina - metabolism; Retinal cells; Retinal Degeneration - metabolism; Review; Therapeutic applications; Toxicity; Vision, Ocular; Visual impairment; Visual Perception; Brazil; United States > US; natural products; neurotoxicity; cell death; pesticides; retina; medicinal herbs; medicinal
• ISSN: 1422-0067; 1661-6596; 1422-0067
• DOI: 10.3390/ijms23158182

Vision is an important sense for humans, and visual impairment/blindness has a huge impact in daily life. The retina is a nervous tissue that is essential for visual processing since it possesses light sensors (photoreceptors) and performs a pre-processing of visual information. Thus, retinal cell dysfunction or degeneration affects visual ability and several general aspects of the day-to-day of a person's lives. The retina has a blood-retinal barrier, which protects the tissue from a wide range of molecules or microorganisms. However, several agents, coming from systemic pathways, reach the retina and influence its function and survival. Pesticides are still used worldwide for agriculture, contaminating food with substances that could reach the retina. Natural products have also been used for therapeutic purposes and are another group of substances that can get to the retina. Finally, a wide number of medicines administered for different diseases can also affect the retina. The present review aimed to gather recent information about the hazard of these products to the retina, which could be used to encourage the search for more healthy, suitable, or less risky agents.