Protective effect of Aster tataricus extract on retinal damage on the virtue of its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effect in diabetic rat Hao Du a , Meng Zhang a , Kejun Yao a , Zhitao Hu b, * a Department of Ophthalmology, The Affiliated Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei Province, 430030, PR China b Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland,Upland Rd.Bldg.#79,Room 431, Brisbane, QLD,4072, Australia A R T I C L E I N F O Article history: Received 17 January 2017 Received in revised form 23 January 2017 Accepted 23 January 2017 Keywords: Aster tataricus Diabetic retinopathy Cytokines Fundus photography Antioxidant A B S T R A C T Effect of Aster tataricus (AT) was estimated on the retinal injury in diabetic rats by its antioxidant and anti- inflammatory activity. Streptozotocin (STZ) was used to induce diabetes at a dose of 60 mg/kg, i.p. and blood glucose was estimated to confirm the diabetic rats. All the animals were separated in to 5 different groups (n = 10) such as control, diabetic retinopathy (DR) receives saline solution, and AT treated group receives AT (100, 200 and 400 mg/kg) for the duration of 8 week. After treatment protocol period blood glucose and HbA1c% was estimated in the blood sample of diabetic rats. Retinal tissue was isolated for the fundus photography and retinal vessel diameter, retinal vascular permeability and leukocytosis were estimated. Moreover in the retinal tissue homogenate oxidative stress parameters such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH) and catalase (CAT) and concentration of cytokines (TNFa, IL10) was estimated. Result of the study suggested that root extract of AT contain rich amount of polyphenol in it which significantly reduces the body weight and concentration of glucose in blood in diabetic rats. Fundus photography suggested that AT extract attenuates the structure and functional abnormalities that develops due to diabetes. Retinal leukocytosis and vascular permeability was significantly decreases in AT treated group than DR group. There was significant increase in the activity of GSH, CAT and SOD in AT treated group than DR group. Moreover AT also attenuates the altered concentration of TNFa, IL10 and NF-kB in the retina of STZ induced diabetic rat. Thus present study concludes that root extract of AT effectively manages the diabetic retinopathy by controlling the blood glucose and also by attenuating the altered oxidative stresss and inflammatory mediators such as TNFa, IL10 and NF-kB in the retina of STZ induced diabetic rat. © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Diabetes is a chronic metabolic disorder and uncontrolled blood sugar for longer duration results in the development of various complications such as diabetic retinopathy [1]. Diabetic retinopa- thy is a microvascular complication that may cause retinal detachment, neovasculization and visual loss. In diabetes due to long term increased blood glucose level enhances the reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and thereby causes inflammation by activating proinflamatory cytokines [2–4]. Literature reports that vascular cell death and blood retinal barrier breakdown was in relationship with proinflammatry mediators such as TNFa, IL and VEGF [5–7]. Therapy available for the management of diabetic retinopathy has various limitations such as side effect and unable to control blood glucose [8]. Patients suffering from diabetic retinopathy are manages by laser photocoagulation method primarily but this method is not able to effectively improves the vision [9]. Epidemiological studies explain that intake of polyphe- nol rich diet reduces the chances of oxidative stress associated with diabetes and diabetic complications [10]. Traditionally Aster tataricus (AT) was used for the management of several disorders in China. There are several chemical such as saponins, polyphenols and triterpins isolated from roots of AT [11]. Management of cancer, chronic bronchitis and tuberculosis AT was used traditionally [12]. Reported research work suggested that AT having strong antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anticancer activity [13–15]. Several chemicals isolated from roots of AT such as scopoletin, kaempferol, caffeoylquinic acids, astersaponins, shionone and aster peptides [16]. Scopoletin is one of the major constituent in the roots of AT and several report suggested that * Corresponding author. E-mail address: zhitaohu134@hotmail.com (Z. Hu). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biopha.2017.01.179 0753-3322/© 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved. Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy 89 (2017) 617–622 Available online at ScienceDirect www.sciencedirect.com