NAC Protects Retinal Cells

SAN VICENTE DEL RASPEIG, Spain--N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) exerts antioxidant effects in vitro, protecting retinal cells from induced oxidative damage (J Ocul Pharmacol Ther. ePub 2010 Jul 24. DOI: 10.1089/jop.2009.0101). Researchers from Universidad de Alicante previously reported hypoxia can cause cell death in retinal epithelial (RPE) cells via an oxidative-stress-related mechanism; in this study, the team aimed to determine how NAC could exert antioxidant protective effects.

The researchers analyzed the expression level of several apoptosis-related genes in RPE cells after 72 hours of high oxygen exposure, either with or without treating the cells with 10 mM NAC. Treatment prevented higher expression levels of the apoptotic-related genes p53 and CASP8; other related genes did not show an increase in expression during hypoxia.

Therefore, NAC, and possibly other antioxidants, could play a protective role against oxygen-related-stress injury in the eye, which is seen in diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD).