Scientists find curcumin more useful

In glaucoma, the optic nerve, or the nerve that connects the eye to the brain, is damaged by an accumulation of fluid in the eye, which puts too much pressure on the nerves One way to treat this is to use prescription eyedrops The common way to treat some types of glaucoma is to use eyedrops to prevent further loss of vision by adjusting intraocular pressure Recent studies at University College London and Imperial College London have shown that curcumin, a derivative of curcumin, can effectively treat early symptoms of glaucoma In addition, the researchers point out that there is a possible way to get curcumin directly to the back of the eye through eye drops It is well known that the curcumin derivative has poor solubility, but a new technology developed by the team will enable experts to overcome this problem "Curcumin is an exciting compound that shows promise in the detection and treatment of neurodegenerative changes in many eye and brain diseases, including glaucoma and Alzheimer's disease, so it can be easily treated with eye drops and may eventually help millions of people." The first effect of a particular curcumin delivery modality in glaucoma is the loss of retinal ganglion cells, a type of neuron found near the retina, or tissue at the back of the eye Retinal ganglion cells receive visual signals and play a key role in healthy vision The loss of these cells leads to vision loss, but so far, scientists have not found a feasible way to prevent the loss of retinal ganglion cells in the early stage of glaucoma In the new study, however, Cordeiro and his colleagues note that curcumin drops do reduce the loss of retinal cells in rat models Previous studies have shown that turmeric derivatives have a protective effect on retinal ganglion cells, but in these cases, the substance is taken orally However, because curcumin is very low in solubility - which means it dissolves and is absorbed into the blood by difficult blood - oral medicine is not an easy thing Therefore, in order to overcome this difficulty, researchers have developed a special nano carrier, which is made of safe substances for human use, and has been applied to some eye products This nano carrier has increased the solubility of curcumin by nearly 400000 times, and the content of curcumin in it is much higher than other products under development In addition, it can deliver the material to the required place through eye drops At first, Cordeiro and his team tested the nanocarrier containing curcumin in vitro, and then repeated it in vivo on a rat model with retinal ganglion cells about to lose The "main contribution" to the health of their experiment was successful; over a period of three weeks, they injected rats with innovative eye drops twice a day, and they noticed that the loss of retinal cells was significantly reduced compared to that of the control group, which did not receive this treatment In addition, the team is pleased to observe that nanoparticles containing cruor do not cause inflammation of the eyes Now, the researchers are looking at whether curcumin can be treated with specially designed nano carriers, or used to diagnose Alzheimer's disease; the substance is thought to bind to amyloid, a typical Alzheimer's protein in the brain "We are now looking at the diagnostic use of these eye drops, as well as other methods of visualizing the retina," Dr Ben Davis said, "because ophthalmology can detect signs of neurodegeneration through a simple, non-invasive test." "As we live longer, diseases such as glaucoma and Alzheimer's disease are steadily increasing," cordello added "We believe that our findings will make a significant contribution to helping the lives of people affected by these devastating diseases."