Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is one of the earliest complications of chronic hyperglycemia and is a major cause of vision loss.
Nearly all patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus and more than 60 % with chronic type 2 diabetes develop some degree of
retinopathy after 10 years. Aldose reductase, the first enzyme in polyol pathway chiefly contributes to the development of
diabetic retinopathy and other secondary complications. None of the currently available drugs used to inhibit the activity
of aldose reductase is found to be ideal due to their adverse effects. Hence, the screening and identification of more effective
and safer aldose reductase inhibitors from natural products have been critical requirement in the management and treatment
of T2DM. Recently, we have reported the antidiabetic properties of phytochemicals such as Gymnemic acid, Trigonelline
and Ferulic acid in high fat diet fed- low dose STZ induced experimental type 2 diabetes in rats. In the present study, the
structure based computational method was employed to identify the in silico inhibitory effect of the above phytoingredients
on aldose reductase activity. Auto Dock 4.2 is used to study the molecular interactions between the ligands and the receptor.
The data obtained evidenced that the docking efficacy of the antidiabetic ligands which are comparable with fidarestat, the
standard used in the present study. Thus, the antidiabetic properties of the above lead molecules may attribute to its aldose
reductase inhibitory effect.
Astaxanthin inhibits aldose reductase activity in
Psammomys obesus
, a model of type 2 diabetes and diabetic retinopathy
