passed ITP recently.
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The macular pigments zeaxanthin and lutein, due to their photophysical and antioxidant properties, are believed to protect the retina from photoinduced oxidative stress, and to prevent age-related macular degeneration (AMD) [21–24]. The AREDS study demonstrated that supplementation with carotenoids, zinc, vitamin C, and vitamin E reduced the 5-year risk of advanced AMD by 25% [25,26]. Higher intake of bioavailable lutein/zeaxanthin was found to be associated with a long-term reduced risk of advanced AMD [27]. In several model systems it was also demonstrated that antioxidant protection increased synergistically when combination of carotenoids and vitamin E was used [28–30]. Importantly, carotenoids are among the most efficient quenchers of singlet oxygen, while vitamin E is an efficient scavenger of peroxyl radicals [31–34]. Synergistic protection by zeaxanthin and vitamin E against photic stress in ARPE-19 cells, mediated by photosensitizing dyes [35], lipofuscin granules [13], or melanosomes [36], was shown in our previous studies
Although RPE cells were pooled from the same number of younger and older donors, about 17–20% more MLF granules was obtained in the group of older donors, compared to younger donors. Differences in pigmentation of MLF granules between both age groups were observed visually, and confirmed by EPR spectroscopy as discussed below. Here, we analyzed photoreactivity of MLF granules isolated from RPE of younger (MLF_18-29) and older (MLF_50-59) human donors, and examined the effects of zeaxanthin and vitamin E. First, the ability of the pigment granules to induce oxygen photoconsumption was compared. Although oxygen consumption accompanying a photoreaction provides limited information about the photoreaction mechanism, it is a convenient indicator of oxygen-dependent reactivity [52].