Oxidative stress/antioxidant balance implication in reducing of intra-ocular pressure in patients with stroke, nicergoline therapy and open-angle glaucoma

Abstract

Background: The continue efforts for long term reducing of intraocular pressure (IOP) in patients with open angle glaucoma, focused the attention on those patients who received different therapies, other that topical drugs for IOP reduction, that can influence this parameter.. The aim of this study was to evaluate the IOP, total oxidative stress and anti-oxidant capacity of plasma before and after nicergoline therapy in patients with ischemic stroke and associated open angle glaucoma. Material and method: a group of 35 patients with ischemic stroke and chronic open angle glaucoma (under topical beta-blockers therapy) was studied regarding the values of IOP, total oxidative stress (TOS) and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) before (T1) and after 6 month (T2) of nicergoline therapy. Results: IOP values for both eyes were significantly reduced when the values of T1 examination were compared with those of T2 assessment. The total oxidative stress parameter was also significantly reduced after nicergoline therapy together with increasing of total antioxidant capacity of plasma. Conclusions: besides its positive effects on neuronal metabolism for ischemic stroke patients, nicergoline is able to influence the IOP in patients with open angle glaucoma and to improve the plasmatic oxidative stress/antioxidant balance. By this mechanism nicergoiline can contribute to a neuroprotection and better visual function preservation for these patients, improving their chances to neuro-motor rehabilitation and their quality of life.