Therapeutic investigation of quercetin nanomedicine in a zebrafish model of diabetic retinopathy

Abstract

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is progressive damage to the retina and it's caused by damage to the blood-retinal barrier. Quercetin has pleiotropic action like anti-oxidant, regulation cell cycle &vascular integrity, and preventive effect of neuroinflammation. The present study is designed to investigate the nano-formulation of quercetin (NQ) in a zebrafish model of DR. The DR was developed by a single intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ; 350 mg/kg). The acceleration of retinopathy was made on 7 days of diabetic zebrafish by intravitreal injection of STZ (20 μL of 7 % w/v of STZ stock solution). The treatment of NQ (5 and 10 mg/kg; i.p.) was administered for 21 consecutive days. The reference control i.e., dexamethasone (DEX, 10 mg/kg; i.p.) was also administered for 21 consecutive days. The sign of DR was assessed by eyeball/body weight ratio, eyeball weight, optomotor response (OMR), startle response (SR), phototactic response (PTR), and escape response (ER). Furthermore, the biochemical changes like plasma glucose and homocysteine (HCY) levels; and eye retinal tissue lipid peroxidation, reduced glutathione (GSH), and arginase reductase (AR) activity levels were assessed. The NQ found to attenuate the effect of STZ induced DR along with the regulation of biochemical abnormalities. And, it also comparable with reference drug treatment i.e., DEX treated group. Hence, NQ can be used for the treatment of diabetic associated retinopathy and neurosensory disorder visits anti-hyperglycemic, regulation of homocysteine pathway, reduction of lipid peroxidation, and free radical scavenging actions.