Low Vitamin E Level as a Subliminal Risk Factor in a Rat Model of Prednisolone-Induced Cataract

• Published in: Investigative ophthalmology & visual science Vol. 43; no. 4; pp. 1116 - 1120
• Main Authors: Kojima, Masami, Shui, Ying Bo, Murano, Hidekazu, Nagata, Masanobu, Hockwin, Otto, Sasaki, Kazuyuki, Takahashi, Nobuo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Rockville, MD ARVO 01.04.2002; Association for Research in Vision and Ophtalmology
• Subjects: Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Body Weight; Cataract - chemically induced; Cataract - drug therapy; Cataract - pathology; Drug toxicity and drugs side effects treatment; Glucocorticoids - toxicity; Lens, Crystalline - drug effects; Lens, Crystalline - pathology; Male; Medical sciences; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Prednisolone - analogs & derivatives; Prednisolone - toxicity; Rats; Rats, Inbred BN; Risk Factors; Toxicity: eye; Vitamin E - therapeutic use; Vitamin E Deficiency - complications; Corticosteroid; Cataract; Rat; Toxicity; Deficiency; Rodentia; E-Vitamins; Eye disease; Vertebrata; Lens disease; Mammalia; Treatment; Animal; Risk factor; Models; Prednisolone
• ISSN: 0146-0404; 1552-5783

To investigate the relationship between vitamin E deficiency and prednisolone-induced cataract formation, long-term examination of lens changes was performed in rats under the condition of vitamin E deficiency or supplementation and administration of prednisolone. Rats were divided into six groups: normal chow (N), vitamin E-deficient chow (ED), normal chow with prednisolone instillation (NP), vitamin E-deficient chow with prednisolone instillation (EDP), NP treatment with vitamin E supplementation (NP+VE), and EDP treatment with vitamin E supplementation (EDP+VE). Prednisolone (1 mg/kg small middle dot d) and vitamin E (5%; 10 microL per administration per eye, 1 mg/kg small middle dot d) were applied in the cul-de-sac. Lens changes were documented and analyzed. Vitamin E status was confirmed by measuring peroxide-induced hemolysis. After 15 months, 91.7% of the eyes in the EDP group showed development of anterior and posterior cortical cataracts. Supplementation with vitamin E significantly reduced cataract formation (to 38.9% of eyes). Neither a vitamin E-deficient diet nor prednisolone treatment alone significantly increased cataract formation. Hemolysis-susceptibility tests confirmed the expected vitamin E status of rats fed vitamin E-deficient chow and rats supplemented with eye drops containing vitamin E. Vitamin E deficiency and long-term prednisolone treatment together cause cataracts. Singly, however, both conditions are subliminal cataractogenic risk factors.