Zhou YM, Cao YH, Guo J, Cen LS. Potential prospects of Chinese medicine application in diabetic retinopathy. World J Diabetes 2024; 15(10): 2010-2014 [PMID: 39493560 DOI: 10.4239/wjd.v15.i10.2010]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Lu-Sha Cen, PhD, Attending Doctor, Department of Ophthalmology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University (Zhejiang Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine), No. 54 Youdian Road, Hangzhou 310006, Zhejiang Province, China. cenlusa2@sina.com
Research Domain of This Article
Ophthalmology
Article-Type of This Article
Editorial
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Diabetes. Oct 15, 2024; 15(10): 2010-2014 Published online Oct 15, 2024. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v15.i10.2010
Potential prospects of Chinese medicine application in diabetic retinopathy
Yi-Mai Zhou, Yuan-Hao Cao, Jing Guo, Lu-Sha Cen
Yi-Mai Zhou, Yuan-Hao Cao, The First Clinical Medical College, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou 310053, Zhejiang Province, China
Jing Guo, Department of Dermatology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University (Zhejiang Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine), Hangzhou 310006, Zhejiang Province, China
Lu-Sha Cen, Department of Ophthalmology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University (Zhejiang Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine), Hangzhou 310006, Zhejiang Province, China
Author contributions: Zhou YM designed the overall concept and outline of the manuscript; Zhou YM and Cao YH contributed to manuscript writing, illustrations, and review of literature; Guo J and Cen LS contributed to conceptualization and supervision; All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported byNational Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 82104862; and Scientific Research Project Foundation of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, No. 2023FSYYZZ01 and No. 2023RCZXZK49.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Lu-Sha Cen, PhD, Attending Doctor, Department of Ophthalmology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University (Zhejiang Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine), No. 54 Youdian Road, Hangzhou 310006, Zhejiang Province, China. cenlusa2@sina.com
Received: April 30, 2024 Revised: June 3, 2024 Accepted: July 8, 2024 Published online: October 15, 2024 Processing time: 148 Days and 20.9 Hours
Abstract
Current treatment strategies for diabetic retinopathy (DR), an eye condition that can lead to blindness, have mainly focused on proliferative DR, including vitreous injection, retinal photocoagulation, and vitrectomy. Vitreous injections mainly depend on anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapy. In this editorial, we comment on the article by Sun et al. We focus specifically on the mechanisms of the protective effect of genipin on the retina. Genipin is a gardenia extract used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). In their study, the authors suggest that controlling advanced glycosylation by the intraocular injection of genipin may be a strategy for preventing retinopathy. The innovative use of a Chinese medicine extract injected into the eye to achieve a curative effect has attracted our attention. Although TCM is effective in treating DR, the topical application of DR, especially intraocular injections, is not yet feasible. Herein, we present a brief analysis of effective Chinese medicines for the treatment of DR. The effectiveness of local injections of TCM applied directly into the eyes holds promise as an effective treatment approach for DR.
Core Tip: In this study, in vitro experiments showed that genipin can reverse high glucose-induced damage in cell proliferation and apoptosis, while reducing energy metabolism, oxidative stress, and inflammatory injury induced by high glucose. The in vitro results showed that intravitreal injection with genipin reduced the expression of CHGA, UCP2, and glucose transporter 1 (GLUT1), and the CHGA/UCP2/GLUT1 signalling pathway may play an important role in this process. This study innovatively treated streptozotocin-induced mice with an intraocular injection of genipin, and concluded that genipin ameliorates diabetic retinopathy by downregulating advanced glycation end products, thereby protecting human retinal microvascular endothelial cells.
