Blog Write-up #3

Herbal Supplement in Buffer for Dry Eye Syndrome Treatment

One of the largest commonly found diseases in the human eye is known as dry eye
syndrome (DES). Some symptoms of the disease consist of burning sensation, discomfort, blurry
vision due to a protective film and other irritations. One solution to this problem would be to
drain ones tear ducts in order reset the tear gland. The most common solution for DES is eye
drops / artificial tears. Artificial tears are commonly used on the market mostly because they are
cost effective and can be easily preserved leading to economic benefits for the consumer
compared to the cost draining. Studies have predicted that dry eye is expected affect about 15%
of adults in the United States. Dry eye has become a subject of interest lately because of recent
studies in Taiwan that suggest the occurrence of symptoms are rapidly increasing in patients 65
or older. Due to lack of effectiveness in artificial tears and eye drops, many researchers are
beginning to look for alternate solutions to get rid DES.
Further studies have shown that the preservative found in artificial tears could be causing
the problem. This experiment was run with Ferulic acid (FA) as the preservative in hope to
thicken the cornea of the eye for protective purposes. The Ferulic acid was tested with
Kaempferol (KM) in hopes to replace the everyday eye drops. A previous study found that
epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), a flavonoid found green tea was added with artificial tears in
order to inhibit the inflammation on rabbit eyes. For those who are unaware, a flavonoid is an
organic compound that is soluble in water, which is often seen as the coloration. Moving
forward, the flavonoid Kaempferol (KM), is commonly used in Chinese medicine was isolated.
The combination of KM, buffer and FA was put through a variety of tests to establish a better fix
for DES.
The experiment first tested a combination of concentrations for both KM and FA on
epithelial cells of an eye before further tests were run on rabbits. The results showed after three
days, the Ferulic acid did not have a negative impact on the cell concentration of the eye,
meaning it did not eat away at the cells. KM was also tested independently to find the proper
concentration in which it would not deteriorate the cells also. The results showed that the
concentration of KM did not have an effect on the human corneal epithelial cells until the
concentration neared 10 M. After a variety of test, a combination of 100 M of FA and 1 M of
KM was found to be the most effective in not damaging corneal epithelial cells as seen below.
 Once the right combination was found, the mixture of FA and KM was added to 50 M of
a buffer solution and tested on rabbits eyes. The results on the rabbits eyes showed no signs of
redness, mucous discharge, irritation, bumps or tears proving the combination can be tolerated by
the human eye.
Although this experiment is definitely ground breaking, it does not test for effects of total
vision. On the bright side, I did like that this experiment was very elaborate in the precautions
taken before performing any of the tests on the rabbits. For example the pH levels were taken in
the normal eye before adding any solution. The experiment also looked at a variety of other
variables like time, which was a major issue in the previously existing solution for dry eye.
Moving forward, I believed that tear drops and artificial tears will quickly be running out of
business after the findings from this experiment.

Citation:
Hung-Chang, C., Zhi-Yu, C., Tsung-Jen, W., Drew, V. J., Ching-Li, T., Hsu-Wei, F., & Feng-
Huei, L. (2017). Herbal Supplement in a Buffer for Dry Eye Syndrome
Treatment. International Journal Of Molecular Sciences, 18(8), 1-17.
doi:10.3390/ijms18081697