Abstract
To determine the amount of Vitamin C in the lenses of Diabetic and Non-Diabetic Patients with Operable Cataract and ascertain association between Vitamin C levels and Blood Glucose, Glycated Haemoglobin and Intraocular pressure. Thirty Diabetic and Thirty Non-Diabetic Patients cataract surgical patients were matched for age and sex and selected for the study. Plasma fasting blood glucose and whole blood glycated Haemoglobin levels were determined by glucose oxidase enzymatic assay and immunodetection methods respectively. Cataractous lens samples obtained during surgery were weighed and homogenized in 10 volumes of phosphate buffer pH 7 and the resulting homogenate centrifuged at 18,000 g for 5 minutes at 4˚C, separated and supernatant stored at -80˚C. Vitamin C assay was carried out using commercial assay kits. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 23. Age range of participants was 55 - 83 years, with a mean of 66.7 ± 1.8 years. Mean Vitamin C levels in the Diabetic and Non-Diabetic groups were 49.5 μg/g ± 6.47 and 57.02 μg/g ± 8.0 respectively. Although the Non-diabetic group had higher levels of Vitamin C, the difference was not significant. Levels of Vitamin C found in both groups are much lower than what has previously been reported in Literature for clear lenses. There was negative association between Vitamin C and Glucose, Glycated Haemoglobin and Intraocular Pressure. Vitamin C supplementation may be useful in prolonging incidence of cataract in both aging and diabetic Nigerian populations. Larger study involving estimation of Vitamin C in both lens and Plasma samples is desirable.
Highlights
Cataract, the clouding or opacity of the crystalline lens is the leading cause of blindness globally with attendant profound social and economic burden
It is well known that lens contains as much as 50 times the concentration of Vitamin C present in plasma, plasma samples were used in most of the work carried out on estimations of Vitamin C levels in Cataract Patients, making it rather difficult to compare our values with established reference ranges
This study came up with values between 260 460 μg/g which is much higher than the values found in this study mean of 47.55 and 58.99 μg/g for diabetic and non-diabetic cataract patients respectively [27]
Summary
The clouding or opacity of the crystalline lens is the leading cause of blindness globally with attendant profound social and economic burden. By 2010, studies indicated that 10.8 million people were blind and 35.1 million visually impaired as a result of cataract [2] [3] This number is expected to increase to 40 million in 2025 as the population grows and ages with greater life expectancies [4]. Oxidative stress is an active player in both age-related and diabetic cataracts. This results when cellular antioxidant defense mechanisms are unable to keep pace with the detoxification of reactive oxygen intermediates produced, causing extensive damage to proteins and leading to irreversible deleterious effects. Reports suggest that hyperglycemia results in increased polyol pathway activity which generates both osmotic and oxidative stress in the diabetic lens. It has been suggested that Vitamin C acts as a physiological sunscreen to protect the eye from UV induced oxidative damage and to generate Vitamin E and gluta-
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