Timolol prevents cell stress

Glaucoma medication timolol exerts a direct antioxidant effect, protecting human endothelial cells from oxidative stress, according to a paper printed online ahead of publication in Eye.

Segio Sacca and colleagues from the University of Genoa and St Martino Hospital, Genoa, Italy induced oxidative stress in cultures of human endothelial cells using iron/ascorbate with or without timolol pre-treatment. Parameters for analysis included cell viability (neutral red uptake and tetrazolium salt tests), lipid peroxidation (thiobarbituric reactive substances) and occurrence of molecular oxidative damage to DNA (8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine).

Researchers founds that oxidative stress caused a 1.8-fold decrease in cell viability, a 3.0-fold increase in lipid peroxidation and a 64-fold increase in oxidative damage to DNA. In the presence of timolol, oxidative stress did not modify cell viability, whereas lipid peroxidation was increased 1.3-fold and DNA oxidative damage 3.6-fold.

The researchers concluded that timolol does exert a direct antioxidant effect that protects human endothelial cells from oxidative stress.