A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ANTI-CATARACT ACTIVITY OF TRIPHALA AND ITS CONSTITUENTS

Abstract

Cataract is referred as clouding of lens of the eyes, a major cause of blindness all over the world. There is a wide spread belief that the herbal medicines have fewer side effects compared to allopathic medicines. Hence the present study comprises the comparison of anti-cataract activity of Triphala, an herbal formulation and its constituents Terminalia chebula, Terminalia bellerica and Emblica officinalis in-vitro.

Goat lenses were incubated in artificial aqueous humor containing 55mM glucose with Triphala formulation and its individual constituents separately at different dose levels (400µg/ml, 800$\mu $g/ml and 1200$\mu $g/ml) at room temperature for 72h. Evaluation was done by using biochemical parameters like superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA), total protein, electrolytes (Na⁺, K⁺) and Na⁺/ K⁺- ATPase activity. The glucose induced opacification of goat lens was also studied as a part of visual evaluation.

Present study reveals that lenses treated with Triphala and its individual constituents shows significant decrease in, loss of transparency in the lens, MDA and Na⁺ levels. There was also significant increase in SOD, total protein and Na ⁺/K⁺- ATPase activity, thereby Triphala and its individual constituents prevents the formation and progress of cataract induced by glucose. The Triphala formulation at higher dose level (1200 $\mu $g/ml) shows much more significant preventive effect on cataract formation than its individual components.

From the present we conclude that Triphala formulation effectively shows anti-cataract activity comparatively to its individual components. Hence the finding of the present study provides the evidence of beneficial effect of Triphala in the patients suffering from cataract.