Chaste Tree Berry, The Whole Herb Medicine for Prevention and Treatment of Cataract

A recent study suggested that Chaste Tree Berry may be used to modulate the risk and treatment of selenite-induced cataractogenesis.

Chaste tree berry is a species of Vitex agnus-castus, genus Vitex, belonging to the family Lamiaceae, native to the Mediterranean region, used in herbal medicine for thousands of years as an aphrodisiac herb and considered a Queen herb in treating menstrual problems and discomforts.

A cataract is a condition of blur vision caused by the clouding of the lens in the eye.

According to the University of Kerala, flavonoids found in the herbal plant exerted a cataract protective effect in reduced damage to the lenticular membrane and abnormal fiber structure in patients with cataracts viewed through electron microscopy.



Furthermore, the study also found that Chaste tree berry also expresses a significant improvement in chaperone property of α-crystallin and soluble protein levels in two-dimensional-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2D-PAGE) and immunoblot analysis.


Dr. Rooban BN, the lead author said, " FVN modulated selenite induced cataractogenesis in rat pups by preventing loss of chaperone property, various changes in lens proteins, and lens structure, further strengthening its protective role".

Some researchers suggested that the efficacy of chaste tree berry in reduced risk and treatment of cataracts may be a result of phytochemical antioxidants activity in scavenging free radicals cause of the disease, such as oxidative stress, loss of calcium homeostasis, calpain activation, and protein insolubilization are found to associate to cataract patients.

More importantly, a study of eight-day-old Sprague-Dawley rat pups was divided into four groups: Control (G I), Sodium selenite-induced (G II), Sodium selenite+quercetin treated (G III), Sodium selenite+flavonoids from Vitex negundo (FVN) (G IV), group fed with sodium selenite+flavonoids showed normal levels of expression of the lens of water-soluble proteins in compared to other groups.


In fact, fed treated with FVN showed to exhibit the antioxidant effects in modulating biochemical parameters against selenite-induced cataracts, the University of Kerala insisted.

In support of the above differentiation, the Sprague-Dawley rat pups of 8 days old were divided into control (G I), selenite induced (G II), and selenite + V. negundo treated (G III) with cataract induced by the single subcutaneous injection of sodium selenite (4 mg/kg body weight) on the tenth day and V. negundo (2.5 mg/Kg body weight) administered intraperitoneally from eighth to 15th-day study, group III showed to exert reduced activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase, lower level of reactive oxygen species, Ca(2+), and thiobarbituric acid reactive substance significantly.


Taking together, Chaste tree berry may process of therapeutic potential used for the prevention and treatment of cataracts with mild adverse effects.

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Sources
(1) Analysis on the alterations of lens proteins by Vitex negundo in selenite cataract models by Rooban BN1, Sasikala V, Sahasranamam V, Abraham A.(PubMed)
(2) Vitex negundo attenuates calpain activation and cataractogenesis in selenite models by Rooban BN1, Lija Y, Biju PG, Sasikala V, Sahasranamam V, Abraham A.(PubMed)