Herbal Bilberry Protects the Retinal Cells Against Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) in Vitro

By Kyle J. Norton

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a group of rare, genetic disorders involved a breakdown and loss of cells in the retina.

Retinitis pigmentosa is a disease associated with genetic position involved the mutation of one of more than 50 genes.

As of today, there is no cure for retinitis pigmentosa (RP).

According to the statistics, in the US,  1 in 3,500 individuals are affected by retinitis pigmentosa (RP).

The onset of symptoms is generally gradual depending on the seriousness of the stage of the loss of rod photoreceptor cells in the back of the eye or the retinal pigment epithelium of the retina.

At the early stage, patients with RP may only experience symptoms of trouble seeing at night and decreased peripheral vision.

Dr. Stefano Ferrari, the lead scientist in the investigation of RP: genes and disease mechanisms wrote, "Over 40 genes have been associated with RP so far, with the majority of them expressed in either the photoreceptors or the retinal pigment epithelium".

Bilberry is a species of low-growing shrubs in the genus Vaccinium, belongings to the family Ericaceae, native to Northern Europe.

The plant has been used as herbs in traditional medicine for the treatment of acute and chronic diarrhea, gastritis, gastric ulcer, and duodenal ulcer, enterocolitis, ulcerative colitis, anemia, cystitis, kidney disease, and psoriasis, diabetes, etc.

Researchers on the search of natural compounds for the treatment of poor vision compared the protective effects and mechanism of action of bilberry extract (B-ext) and lingonberry extract (L-ext) and their active components against blue light-emitting diode (LED) light-induced retinal photoreceptor cell damage similar to those of retinitis pigmentosa (RP).

The study included cultured murine photoreceptor (661 W) cells exposed to blue LED light following treatment with B-ext, L-ext, or their constituents (cyanidin, delphinidin, malvidin, trans-resveratrol, and procyanidin B2).

B-ext, L-ext, NAC, and their active components were found to significantly improve the viability of 661 W cells.

The applied compounds also inhibited the generation of intracellular ROS induced by the blue LED light irradiation associated with the similarity of age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa.

Furthermore, B-ext and L-ext inhibited the expression of proteins involved retinal cellular damage due to stimuli.

Moreover, the protein associated with the production of inflammatory cytokines was also inhibited by the injection of B-ext and L-ext.

Additionally, B-ext, L-ext, and NAC inhibited the blue light effect in the activation of caspases associated with retinal cell apoptosis and autophagy.

The findings suggested that bilberry protects against the loss of the retinal cells through a number of mechanisms, including enhancing the antioxidant produced by the host.

Dr. the lead scientist after taking into account of co and confounders wrote in the final report, "-ext and L-ext containing high amounts of polyphenols exert protective effects against blue LED light-induced retinal photoreceptor cell damage mainly through inhibition of ROS production and activation of pro-apoptotic proteins'.

Taken altogether, bilberry may be considered a functional remedy for the treatment of retinitis pigmentosa (RP) by inhibiting the breakdown and loss of cells in the retina, pending to the validation of larger sample size and multicenter human study.

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.

References
(1) Protective effects of bilberry and lingonberry extracts against blue light-emitting diode light-induced retinal photoreceptor cell damage in vitro by Ogawa K, Kuse Y, Tsuruma K, Kobayashi S, Shimazawa M, Hara H. (PubMed)
(2) Retinitis Pigmentosa: Genes and Disease Mechanisms by Stefano Ferrari,*,1 Enzo Di Iorio,1 Vanessa Barbaro,1 Diego Ponzin,1 Francesco S Sorrentino,2and Francesco Parmeggiani. (PMC)