Resilience and neuroprotection: The efficacy of saffron Repron® in counteracting the progression of inherited retinal degeneration

Abstract

E‐mail: ilaria.piano@unipi.it.Retinal diseases can be induced by several factors, including genetic mutations, environmental stresses, and dysmetabolic processes. The result is a progressive loss of visual function, that can leading to total blindness. Among the diseases still orphaned of an effective therapy for slowing retinal degeneration is Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP). RP is one of the inherited retinal degenerative diseases (IRDs) whose cause is attributed to genetic mutations mainly at the level of rod‐specific genes. To date, about 150 mutations out of 60 different genes have been identified.Several therapeutic strategies are being investigated, although the results are still mostly unsatisfactory and limited to specific diseases, particularly in the case of gene therapy, which is applicable only to specific mutations and therefore not applicable on a large scale. Most of the proposed treatments have been tested in animal models, but few have progressed to human clinical trials. An important approach is to identify targets at the level of those mechanisms that are in common in all forms of RP and that drive disease progression, such as stress‐oxidative and inflammation that all together are known as oxinflammation. Here we provide data showing that in RP natural compounds are effective in slowing down the progression of the disease mainly counteracting oxinflammation. Specifically, saffron “Repron” was proved to be effective in AMD and Stargardt patients as well as in pre‐clinical models both “in vitro” and “in vivo.” We tested this treatment in a IRD model. Preliminary obtained in an animal model of RP (rd10 mice) where saffron treatment was able to slow down even the degeneration of rod due to a genetic mutation. In this study, the treatment began in rd10 pregnant females and continued throughout the weaning phase and then in pups that had become autonomous. Functional, immunohistochemical, molecular biology and biochemical analyses were performed at multiple time points from P20 to P120. The results obtained show a protective effect of saffron on both retinal function and morphology, opening a prospect of preventive treatment for those inherited diseases whose progression is known.