Effect of lycium barbarum (wolfberry) polysaccharides on preserving retinal function after partial optic nerve transection

PLoS One. 2013 Dec 10;8(12):e81339. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0081339. eCollection 2013.

Abstract

Lycium Barbarum Polysaccharides (LBP) are the active components of Wolfberry (a traditional Chinese medicine) which has long been used for improving visual function. This study aims to investigate localized changes of retinal function in a partial optic nerve transection (PONT) model, and effects of LBP on visual function. The multifocal electroretinograms (mfERG) were obtained from 30 eyes of 30 Sprague-Dawley rats. The rats were divided into 6 groups (five treatment groups and one control group). Starting from the first day of the experiment, the rats in the (PONT+LBP) group and the (LBP) group were dosed with LBP; rats in the (PONT+PBS (phosphate buffered saline)) group and the (PBS) group were dosed with PBS via nasogastric tube every day until euthanized. The dorsal part of the optic nerve was transected in the (PONT), (PONT+LBP) and (PONT+PBS) groups at the end of week 1 (day 7 after LBP or PBS feeding began). The mfERG was measured at three time points: week 2, week 3 and week 5. Significant reduction of P1 and PhNR amplitudes of the mfERG were observed in all retinal regions a week after PONT. Feeding with LBP prior to PONT preserved retinal function. All mfERG responses returned to the normal range in the superior retina, which corresponds to the transected dorsal region of the optic nerve, while most of the inferior retinal responses were significantly increased at week 4 after PONT. The ventral part of the retina had secondary degeneration which was not only limited to the ganglion cell layer, but is a widespread effect affecting the outer retina. LBP altered the functional reduction caused by PONT by regulating the signal from the outer retina.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Buffers
  • Cytoprotection / drug effects
  • Drugs, Chinese Herbal / pharmacology*
  • N-Methylaspartate / pharmacology
  • Optic Nerve / drug effects*
  • Optic Nerve / surgery*
  • Phosphates / chemistry
  • Rats
  • Rats, Sprague-Dawley
  • Retina / cytology
  • Retina / drug effects*
  • Retina / physiology*
  • Tetrodotoxin / pharmacology

Substances

  • Buffers
  • Drugs, Chinese Herbal
  • Phosphates
  • lycium barbarum polysaccharide
  • Tetrodotoxin
  • N-Methylaspartate

Grants and funding

This work was supported by a grant for Postdoctoral Fellowship (G-YX3C), Internal Research Grants (GU858) from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, a grant from the Research Grants Council of the HKSAR, China (HKU 10208849), the Fundamental Research Funds for The Central Universities Grant 21609101 and the Azalea (1972) Foundation. The funders do not have any role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.