СОВРЕМЕННЫЕ ВОЗМОЖНОСТИ ПРОФИЛАКТИКИ ВОЗНИКНОВЕНИЯ И ПРОГРЕССИРОВАНИЯ КАТАРАКТЫ

Cataract is one of the  most  common  diseases, especially in the  elderly. Despite  the  fact that  the  share of elderly people  in economically developed countries is higher than  in developing countries, the incidence  of cataract in people over 50 years  in Western countries is 15% and it is about  40%  in developing countries. The reasons are  unbalanced nutrition,  lack of specialized ophthalmic  care  at the initial stages of the disease, the impact of adverse environmental conditions,  etc.  Surgical treatment is the only curative method. However, there are  not always enough indications for this treatment on the one hand, and it is not always possible due to patient’s unfavorable physical status, on the other  hand.  The supportive anti-cataract therapy  should be provided with the dynamic follow-up in such  cases. The pharmaceutical industry offers anti-cataract drugs  with a different composition  and properties, they are  based on the  mechanisms of the  onset  and development of the  disease. “Oxidative stress” is one  of the  main factors, which can  be the  cause of both  nuclear  and  cortical  cataracts. There  are scattering zones in the mature nucleus  of the lens, an increase in extracellular  spaces between corrugated membrane protein-like deposits in case of cataract. It is generally believed that  the  basis  of these deposits are  denatured, initially water-soluble  proteins, which turn  into opaque  substances due to the action of quinoids products formed through  the disturbed metabolism of aromatic aminoacids (tryptophan, tyrosine,  etc.).  Based  on this theory, an anti-cataract substance — pirenoxine was developed.  It inhibits the action of quinoids and prevents the formation of the len’s opacities  and the cataracts progression.