Effect of carnosine, aminoguanidine, and aspirin drops on the prevention of cataracts in diabetic rats
Controlled trialOther animalsTopical
- Design
- Controlled trial
- Subjects
- 64 male Sprague-Dawley rats (5 non-diabetic controls; 59 streptozotocin-diabetic rats in six groups: carnosine 5 mg/mL n=9, carnosine 10 mg/mL n=9, aspirin n=9, aminoguanidine 1 mg/mL n=9, aminoguanidine 2 mg/mL n=9, untreated diabetic n=14)
- Dose used in the study
- carnosine eye drops 5 mg/mL or 10 mg/mL to the left eye twice daily, starting on the day of streptozotocin injection
- Duration
- 13 to 14 weeks
- What was measured
- Lens opacification over time; lens catalase and glutathione; lens glycation at 13 weeks.
What the authors reported
The authors report that lens opacification in diabetic rats progressed in two phases. Carnosine delayed progression, with a statistically significant difference from untreated diabetic rats at week 4 (p<0.05) that disappeared after about five weeks. At 13 weeks, carnosine helped protect lens catalase activity, and all three treatments lowered lens glycation compared with untreated diabetic rats (p<0.001). The authors state that the effect of these drugs on glycation was overwhelmed by AGE accumulation in severely diabetic rats, and that carnosine delayed cataract only in the earlier stages.
Limits of this study
Small groups (9 per treatment); severe streptozotocin diabetes; the effect on opacity was transient.
Source
No PubMed record or DOI. See the citation above.
Entry checked against full text (journal site, Molecular Vision) on 2026-10-11. The dose shown is the dose the researchers used. It is not a recommendation. How to read this page.