With increasingly serious eye exposure to light stresses, such as light-emitting diodes, computers, and widescreen mobile phones, efficient natural compounds for preventing visible light-induced retinal damages are becoming compelling needs in the modern society. Fucoxanthin, as the main light absorption system in marine algae, may possess an outstanding bioactivity in vision protection because of its filtration of blue light and excellent antioxidative activity. In this work, both in vitro and in vivo simulated visible light-induced retinal damage models were employed. The in vitro results revealed that fucoxanthin exhibited better bioactivities than lutein, zeaxanthin, and blueberry anthocyanins in inhibiting overexpression of vascular endothelial growth factor, resisting senescence, improving phagocytic function, and clearing intracellular reactive oxygen species in retinal pigment epithelium cells. The in vivo experiment also confirmed the superiority of fucoxanthin than lutein in protecting retina against photoinduced damage. This excellent bioactivity may be attributed to its unique structural features, including allenic, epoxide, and acetyl groups. Fucoxanthin is expected to be an important ocular nutrient in the future.
Keywords: RPE cells; fucoxanthin; marine algae; photoinduced damage; retina.