COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE EFFECTS OF DILTIAZEM VERSUS ALPHA TOCOPHEROL ON RETINAL DEGENATION IN RABBITS

Disturbance in retinal blood supply can have an effect on the supply of oxygen and the substrates which leads to retinal ischemia, the result is irreversible, ischemic and apoptotic cascades resulting in cell death. The present study was conducted to study the protective effects of diltiazem and vitamin E “alpha-tocopherol,” against degenerative ischaemic retinal changes induced by Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion (MCAO) in rabbits. Animals were classified into normal control group which received tap water throughout the experiment, positive control where induction of retinal ischemia was done by MCAO and three treated groups: a group received diltiazem (15 mg/kg), another received vitamin E (200 mg/kg body), and a third received both diltiazem and vitamin E for three successive weeks followed by induction of retinal ischemia by MCAO for all treated groups. When assessment of the protective effects of diltiazem and vitamin E and their combination, was done by clinical examination of the eyes, measurement of reduced glutathione, malondialdehyde and nitric oxide levels, electroretinography and histopathologically, it showed that both diltiazem and vitamin E and their combination had protective effects against degenerative ischaemic retinal changes and retinitis pigmentosa in rabbits.