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Role of Lycium Barbarum Extracts in Retinal Diseases

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Lycium Barbarum and Human Health

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Abstract

Wolfberry (Lycium barbarum) extracts have been used in the treatment of some retinal degenerative diseases, mostly associated with other antioxidants. The ones this chapter focuses on are retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration. Hereditary retinal dystrophies are a broad (and growing) group of hereditary disorders affecting the retina. Retinitis pigmentosa is perhaps the best known of them and is sometimes (inaccurately) used as a synonym for some of the other conditions in this category. Although these two entities show completely different etiologies: The first one is a group of hereditary diseases in which photoreceptor death occurs due to different mutations, and in the second the loss of photoreceptors is associated to the aging process, in both oxidative damage has been claimed as a pathophysiological mechanism. The present chapter reviews the antioxidant chemical features of wolfberry and wolfberry extracts, the oxidative mechanisms involved in the pathophysiology of photoreceptor cell death, and the existing data on the use of wolfberry for retinal degenerations.

Dedicated to Prof. Theo van Veen on the ocassion of his 70th birthday.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universidad Católica de Valencia ‘San Vicente Mártir’, Valencia, Spain

    María Benlloch, Gloria Castellano, Francisco Javier Sancho-Pelluz, Emilio González-García, Miguel Flores-Bellver & Dr. Francisco J. Romero

  2. Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Universidad Católica de Valencia ‘San Vicente Mártir’, 46001, Valencia, Spain

    Dr. Francisco J. Romero

  3. Unidad predepartamental Medicina, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón de la Plana, Spain

    María Muriach

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  1. María Benlloch
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  1. Department of Anatomy, LKS Faculty of Medicine the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Raymond Chuen-Chung Chang

  2. Department of Anatomy, LKS Faculty of Medicine the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Kwok-Fai So

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Benlloch, M. et al. (2015). Role of Lycium Barbarum Extracts in Retinal Diseases. In: Chang, RC., So, KF. (eds) Lycium Barbarum and Human Health. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9658-3_11

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