© flickr & Carina Ice
ビタミンEを含むコンタクトレンズが，緑内障治療に役立つことが分かった。緑内障の治療には，高くなった眼の中の圧力を低くする点眼剤が使われるが，薬の成分が数分のうちに涙で流されてしまう。そこで，薬を放出するビタミンE入りのレンズが考案された。このレンズを使うと，ビタミンE入りでないレンズと比べて最高で100倍も長い時間，薬を眼にとどめることができるという。ビタミンEは紫外線から眼を守る役割も果たす。緑内障治療に関してはイヌを使った実験が進行中だが，他の眼科用薬剤にも使える見込みだ。（吉田素子）
The popular dietary supplement(1) vitamin E(2), loaded into(3) special medicated(4) contact lenses(5), can keep glaucoma(6) medicine near the eye -- where it can treat that common disease-- almost 100 times longer than possible with current commercial lenses, scientists reported here today.
In a presentation(7) at the 239th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society(8) (ACS), they described use of vitamin E to develop contact lenses that may deliver more medication(9) for glaucoma and perhaps other diseases to the eye.
Anuj Chauhan, Ph.D.(10), who headed(11) the research team(12), explained that glaucoma is second only to(13) cataracts(14) as the leading cause of(15) vision loss(16) and blindness(17) in the world. It affects(18) almost 67 million people. Eye drops(19) that relieve(20) the abnormal(21) build-up(22) of pressure(23) inside the eye that occurs in glaucoma, are a mainstay(24) treatment.
“The problem is within about two to five minutes of putting drops in the eye, tears carry the drug away and it doesn’t reach the targeted(25) tissue(26),” said Chauhan, who is with the University of Florida in Gainesville. “Much of the medicine gets absorbed into the bloodstream(27), which carries it throughout the body where it could cause side effects(28). Only about one to five percent of drugs in eye drops actually reach the cornea(29) of the eye.”
Chauhan and colleagues(30) have developed a new extended-release(31) delivery(32) approach incorporating(33) vitamin E into contact lenses. The invisible(34) clusters(35), or aggregates(36), of vitamin E molecules(37) form what Chauhan describes as “transport barriers(38).” that slow down(39) the elution(40) of the glaucoma medication from the lens into the eye.
(1) 栄養補助食品 (2) ビタミンE (3) ～に入れられた（搭載された） (4) 薬の入った
(5) コンタクトレンズ (6) 緑内障 (7) 発表 (8) アメリカ化学会 (9) 薬 (10)博士
(11) ～を主導した (12) 研究班 (13) ～に次いで2番目である (14) 白内障 (15) ～の最も多い原因
(16) 視力低下 (17) 失明 (18) ～を侵す (19) 点眼剤 (20) 軽減する (21) 異常な (22) 増加
(23) 圧力 (24) 中心となる (25) 標的とした (26) 組織 (27) 血流 (28) 副作用 (29) 角膜
(30) 研究仲間 (31)徐放性の (32) 送達 (33) ～を包含する (34) 目に見えない (35) 塊
(36) 凝集物 (37) 分子 (38) 輸送の障壁 (39) ～の速度を落とす (40) 溶出
