Alleviate oxidative stress in diabetic retinopathy: antioxidant therapeutic strategies

ABSTRACT

Objectives

This review outlines the function of oxidative stress in DR and discusses therapeutic strategies to treat DR with antioxidants.

Methods

Published papers on oxidative stress in DR and therapeutic strategies to treat DR with antioxidants were collected and reviewed via database searching on PubMed.

Results

The abnormal development of DR is a complicated process. The pathogenesis of DR has been reported to involve oxidative stress, despite the fact that the mechanisms underlying this are still not fully understood. Excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation can damage retina, eventually leading to DR. Increasing evidence have demonstrated that antioxidant therapy can alleviate the degeneration of retinal capillaries in DR.

Conclusion

Oxidative stress can play an important contributor in the pathogenesis of DR. Furthermore, animal experiments have shown that antioxidants are a beneficial therapy for treating DR, but more clinical trial data is needed.

KEYWORDS:

• Diabetic retinopathy
• Oxidative stress
• ROS
• Antioxidant
• therapeutic strategies
• hyperglycemia
• microvascular complication
• imbalance

Data availability

Data will be made available upon reasonable request from the corresponding author.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by University Natural Science Research Project of Anhui Province: [Grant Number 2022AH050743]; National Natural Science Foundation Incubation Program of The Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University: [Grant Number 2021GQFY05].