Resveratrol May Protect Against Visually Debilitating Eye Diseases

The red wine compound resveratrol has been found to inhibit angiogenesis, thereby acting to prevent the development of blinding eye diseases such as diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration.

Resveratrol has been shown in previous studies to protect against cancer formation and against the development of atherosclerosis and inflammatory conditions. In the current study, investigators at Washington University School of Medicine (St. Louis, MO, USA) extended research on resveratrol to its possible beneficial effects on visually debilitating eye diseases.

They reported in the May 14, 2010, online edition of the American Journal of Pathology that administration of resveratrol to mice whose retinas had been damaged by laser light reversed the spread of abnormal blood vessels. At the molecular level, this effect was shown to be caused by activation of the enzyme eukaryotic elongation factor-2 kinase. The active kinase phosphorylated and inactivated elongation factor-2, a key mediator of ribosomal transfer and protein translation.

"We have identified a novel pathway that could become a new target for therapies,” said senior author Dr. Rajendra S. Apte, assistant professor of ophthalmology, visual sciences, and developmental biology at Washington University School of Medicine. "And we believe the pathway may be involved both in age-related eye disease and in other diseases where angiogenesis plays a destructive role. This could potentially be a preventive therapy in high-risk patients, and because it worked on existing, abnormal blood vessels in the animals, it may be a therapy that can be started after angiogenesis already is causing damage."

"A great deal of research has identified resveratrol as an anti-aging compound, and given our interest in age-related eye disease, we wanted to find out whether there was a link,” said Dr. Apte. "There were reports on resveratrol's effects on blood vessels in other parts of the body, but there was no evidence that it had any effects within the eye.”

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Washington University School of Medicine