J Fr Ophtalmol. 2002 Apr; 25(4): 351-5.

[Protection of cornea against proteolytic damage. Experimental study of procyanidolic oligomers (PCO) on bovine cornea]

Robert AM, Robert L, Renard G.

AIM OF THE STUDY: The purpose of this work was the development of an antiprotease treatment for the cornea and later for other ocular tissues. Indeed, many proteases participate in various ocular pathologies and no really effective treatments are currently available. METHODS: We worked on bovine corneas in organ cultures, incubated in the presence and absence of bacterial collagenase. We used procyanidolic oligomers from grape seeds (PCO) as the antiproteolytic agent, added to the cultures in two different concentrations. RESULTS: The corneas incubated in the presence of collagenase were quickly attacked and their degradation was practically complete after 24 hours. With the low concentration used (0.066 mg/ml), proteolysis was only slightly inhibited. With the higher concentration of PCO (1 mg/ml), the collagenolysis was completely prevented and the corneas were completely preserved. CONCLUSION: These results show that the protective effect of the PCO against proteolytic attack, demonstrated previously on other tissues, proved to be effective also for the cornea in vitro. An adequate method of administration in clinical practice must now be developed in order to obtain an effective clinical antiproteolytic treatment.