枸杞子-青光眼的神经保护剂

Lycium barbarum L.:a neuroprotective drug for glaucoma

枸杞子的活性成份包括杞子多糖(LBP)、玉米黄质、β胡萝卜素、甜菜碱、类黄酮等。枸杞子的生物效应至少包括两方面:首先是对神经元的细胞间效应,枸杞子具有免疫调节作用,且可通过适度激活小胶质细胞而保护视网膜神经节细胞免受青光眼高眼压的损害;它还可抑制高眼压视网膜的GFAP免疫活性增高。其次是枸杞子对神经元的细胞内效应,它可调节多个细胞内途径减低不同的病理损害。在应激情况下,它可通过调节细胞存活和凋亡通路来保持机体平衡。因此,枸杞子具有多种不同的神经保护机制,这也正是抗衰老中草药的整体作用方式。

The active components in L.barbarum（wolfberry） include polysaccharide（LBP）,zeaxanthin,beta-carotene,betaine,flavonoids,etc.The biological activities of L.barbarum can be summarized into two aspects.The first one is the intercellular effects on neurons.L.barbarum has immune modulation effects and it can activate microglia to an appropriate state（moderately activated） to protect retinal ganglion cells（RGCs） against ocular hypertension in glaucoma.It also suppresses the up-regulated GFAP immunoreactivity in the ocular hypertension retinas.The second aspect is the intracellular effects on neurons.L.barbarum is able to modulate a number of intracellular signaling pathways to reduce different pathological damages.It modulates both survival and pro-apoptotic pathways to maintain homeostatsis of our body under stress conditions.All these lines of evidence suggest that L.barbarum utilizes multiple mechanisms for its protective effects on neurons.The ability of L.barbarum to interfere these pathways may explain why it can provide a broad-spectrum of protection,and this is the holistic approach of anti-aging herbs.