Abstract
PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of lutein on systemic complement activation in elderly individuals. METHODS: Seventy patients with signs of early age-related macular degeneration (AMD) were included in this study. All subjects were randomly assigned to receive a 10 mg daily dose of lutein or a placebo for a time period of 1 year. EDTA blood was collected before and at various time-points during the study (0, 4, 8 and 12 months). The plasma level of the soluble complement membrane attack complex sC5b-9 was measured by ELISA. RESULTS: We found a significant 1.1 ng/ml monthly decrease in the plasma sC5b-9 concentration in the lutein group (p <0.001), resulting in a decrease from 60.3 ng/ml at baseline to 46.3 ng/ml at 12 months. For the placebo group, we found a significant 0.6 ng/ml monthly increase in plasma sC5b-9 concentration (p = 0.001), resulting in an increase from 51.6 ng/ml at baseline to 58.4 ng/ml at 12 months. CONCLUSIONS: Lutein supplementation inhibits the systemic activation of the complement system, which provides further functional evidence for the reported beneficial effects of this carotenoid in the management of AMD.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 141-145 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | Acta Ophthalmol |
Volume | 93 |
Issue number | 2 |
Early online date | 26 Aug 2014 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 17 Feb 2015 |
Research Beacons, Institutes and Platforms
- Manchester Institute for Collaborative Research on Ageing