Original Article THE ANTI-CATARACT EFFECT OF COENZYME Q10 IN RABBITS BAHA'A A. ABDUL-HUSSEIN, AHMED SALIM MAHMOOD Head of Dept. of Pharmacology, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Al-Qadissiya, Al-Qadissiya Iraq, PhD Student in Pharmacology, College of Medicine, Al-Mustansiriyah University, Baghdad-Iraq Email: ahmedsalimpharmacist@hotmail.com Received: 24 Feb 2016 Revised and Accepted: 09 Jan 2017 ABSTRACT Objective: cataract is the opacity of the lens which progressively impairs the light transmission to the retina and finally prevents the vision, these opacity result from the oxidative process in the eye. The study aimed to prevent opacity of the lens by using Coenzyme Q10 as eye drops. Methods: Sodium selenite 0.01w/v injected intravitreal to the rabbit's eye to induce the disease, a group of rabbits were receive Coenzyme Q10 eye drop, and another group received distilled water, pre and post induction, cataract maturity was measured to evaluate the opacity deterioration. Results: the group of rabbits that received distilled water after induction of cataract, the opacity occurred within 48-72 h and the mean score of opacity reached to (4±0.00), while Coenzyme Q10 treated group the degree of opacity was (1.5±0.02), and there was a highly significant difference (p<0.01). Conclusion: Coenzyme q10 has an antioxidant activity when use as eye drops and this effect enable Coenzyme Q10 to prevent the opacity which is the major cause of cataract due to oxidative stress. Keywords: Cataractogenesis, Oxidative stress, Coenzyme Q10 © 2016 The Authors. Published by Innovare Academic Sciences Pvt Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4. 0/) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22159/ijpps.2017v9i3.11391 INTRODUCTION Cataract is an illness that affects the eye; it causes opacity of the lens which progressively impairs the light transmission to the retina and finally prevents the vision. Oxidative damage to lens constituents, including nucleic acids, proteins, and lipids, is considered to be a primary factor in aging-related cataract [1, 2]. Normally our bodies counteracts this oxidative damage by regular antioxidant defense pathway, however, with age, activated species of oxygen accumulate while the antioxidant defence system gradually decrease. This accumulation of oxidant products results cross-linking and aggregation of proteins with increasing in molecular weight that can scatter light. Consequently, opacification of the lens occur resulting in blocking of light transmission to the retina then blindness [3, 4]. In medicine, surgical removal of the lens considers the best therapy for treatment of the cataract. But, the cost of the cataract surgery considers the major problem for patients living in poverty countries [5]. Early diagnosis of cataract can delays the onset of the disease and reduces the option of surgery by as much as 50% [6]. Many compounds with antioxidant properties have been evaluated to prevent the cataract. N-acetylcarnosine is considered one of the powerful antioxidant which was developed as an eye drop dosage form. This compound act by delivering the L-carnosine, which act by neutralize the damage of the lens that cause by oxidative stress [7]. Coenzyme Q10 (Cq10) or Ubiquinone, which is the natural vitamin, play a vital role in the electron transport system of mitochondria and consider as the main component of oxidative phosphorylation process that produces the ATP which is the main source of energy in the cell. Besides that, it has an effect on gene expression. Current evidence indicated that Cq10 has powerful antioxidant properties [8, 10]. Hence the rational design for this research is to assess the efficacy of Cq10 eye drop in the prevention of cataract. MATERIALS AND METHODS Chemicals Water soluble Cq10 was purchased from Swan Health Product, USA. Benzylkonium chloride is a gift from Sammara Drug Industry, Iraq. Sterile sodium chloride solution was utilised which made in Adwic pharmaceutical Co., Egypt. Ketamine solution also utilised which produced by Hikma Pharmaceuticals Plc, Jordan. Animals A group of 12 adult rabbits (Oryctologus cuniculus), aged about one year with a range of body weight of (1.5-2 kg) were purchased from the college of veterinary medicine/University of Baghdad. Animals were kept on fresh trefoil diet, water at libitum, room temperature (25-27 °C) and light/dark cycle of 12/12 h. Preparation of coenzyme Q10 eye drops Coenzyme Q10 eye drops are prepared by dissolving 300 mg of water soluble Cq10 (Swanson Health Products, USA) in sufficient amount of sterile distilled water to achieve 0.3% w/v of Cq10 solution. Benzalkonium chloride is also used as a preservative in a concentration of 0.001%. Finally, the solution was sterilised utilizing a 0.2μm pore size filters and kept in a sterile dropper to be used as an eye drop solution [10, 11]. Therapeutic groups Therapeutic groups were 2 groups; Cq10 and distilled water (control) group. Each group included 6 rabbits. Cq10 group were administered 2 drops of Cq10 eye drop topically 3 times/day to the right eye for five days prior to induction of cataract (i.e. prophylactic use) and continued thereafter for further 21 d after the cataract being induced (i.e. therapeutic use), whereas left eyes were received the distilled water (the same volume, frequency and duration). The control group was given distilled water only. Induction of cataract The rabbits were anesthetized by intramuscular injection of 0.5 ml of (50 mg/ml) ketamine. Induction of disease was done by inserting the needle of (gauge 30, 12.7 mm), (4 mm behind the limbus in sclera measured by caliper) to intravitreal injection of 0.1 ml from 0.01% w/v of sodium selenite solution in right eye; it was single injection [12]. After the injection, the rabbits were monitored for caractogenesis which begun after one hour and when opacity progression observed [13]. Monitoring was done by slit-lamp examination to detect of cataract type [14, 15]. International Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences ISSN- 0975-1491 Vol 9, Issue 3, 2017