Eye drops could be used in the future as a cataracts treatment instead of surgery to remove the thin layers from lenses. A new study conducted by the University of California San Diego (UCSD) that included dogs and rabbits suggests that the liquid medicine could be used to cure the leading cause of worldwide human blindness.
Findings of the study were reported in the journal Nature. An eye dropper was used to apply a natural molecule called lanosterol to the canines' peepers.
This molecule functions by dissolving morphing proteins that cause a lens to become cloudy, according to San Diego Union Tribune. The result is clear proteins known as crystallin.
Chinese researcher Kang Zhang of Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China was the study's lead researcher. The study was launched due to a case study involving two of his patients with a congenial (inherited) form of the medical condition.
Dr. Zhang discovered that the patients had a gene mutation that prevented lanosterol production. That molecule seemed to slow cataract proteins from forming.
In the first set of lab tests, the scientists proved their hypothesis that lanosterol helped to keep the proteins at bay. Then dogs with cataracts were given eye drops with the molecule.
Six weeks later, the researchers ran tests. They reported that the cataracts' size and cloudiness had been reduced.
J. Fielding Hejtmancik is a scientist at the United States National Eye Institute. He said that the new study included "very preliminary" findings, and testing of other molecules will likely take place before human trials with the lanosterol eye medicine.
Globally millions of people suffer from cataracts. The only current treatment is going under the knife to remove the thin layers on the eye lens, according to ABC.net.
Surgery is typically safe and simple. However, the number of patients is projected to double during the next few decades due to an aging population in developed countries, and it is unaffordable for many people.
Cataracts result in half of global blindness cases. An eye drop procedure could possibly halt total vision loss by preventing the condition in high-risk people, or perhaps even reversing pre-existing cataracts.