Diabetes and your vision

Our vision I think is something that we take for granted and we just naturally assume that it will always be there. Could you just imagine if one day you woke up and couldn’t see anything? How terrifying would that be?! I wouldn’t be able to do everyday things like driving, reading, cooking, some I could manage but with major alterations and restrictions. My point is that our sight is utterly vital in our lives and we should treat it with respect and care for it.

Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that result in loss of sight and even though it is more common in people over the age of 50, it can occur in younger individuals.

The resulting loss of vision occurs when the optic nerve, which relays images from the retina (the light sensitive tissue that lines the back of the eye) to the brain, is damaged. It is the second most common cause of blindness according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the first most common cause being cataracts (according to the 2002 estimates).

The reason it is so prevalent is that many people do not realise that they have a problem with their vision and therefore don’t seek any treatment. This is why regular eye checkups are essential and in a small minority of people, despite receiving the appropriate treatment, some people are still not able to fully recover which is a cause for concern.

Current treatment for glaucoma involve issuing eye drops (usually chlromephenicaol) which help prevent the build up of fluid and so in effect stopping any damage from occurring to the optic nerve. With this method of treatment, the cornea (a transparent flap that covers certain components of eye i.e. iris, pupil, etc) represents a huge challenge as the drugs have to be able to penetrate the cornea and for this to happen the molecules have to be of a particular size or chemical composition. However this may be about to change...

In the University of Central Florida, a student was testing cerium oxide nanoparticles (nanoceria) to evaluate their efficiency as a catalyst to be used in oven cleaning fluid. During the course of the experiments, the student thought it would be interesting to apply the use of nanoparticles in a medical setting – random, I know.

The University of Oklahoma undertook initial tests for toxicity, which were then followed by animal studies, after which researchers deemed that nanoceria could be used in the effective transportation of drugs – specifically within the human eye.

Unlike eye drops, nanoceria are able to penetrate the cornea safely and effectively. The combination of nanoceria with hcAII enzyme blockers (which stop the hcAII enzymes from producing fluid) would help to prevent fluid build up and damage to the optic nerve. The combination of the two components would mean that drugs could be delivered effectively to the target site without disrupting any of the surrounding areas.

So nanoceria from an oven cleaning catalyst to an effective drug transportation facilitator molecule. It’s funny how science begins in one area and ends up linking to something entirely different.