The influence of a water -soluble antioxidant drug (Mexidol) on the sensitivity of the optic nerve and blood flow velocity in the arteries of the eyeball and orbit in patients with the primary open -angle glaucoma

Authors:

I.A. VOLCHEGORSKY¹, E.V. ROUND¹, O.V. SOLYANNIKOVA¹, V.S. RYKUN¹, E.V. BERDNIKOVA¹, M.S. SUMINA², V.N. DMITRIENKO²

¹State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education "Chelyabinsk State Medical Academy" of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation;
²State Medical and Public Health Institution "Chelyabinsk Regional Clinical Hospital"

Place of publication:
VESTNIK OPHTHALMOLOGII, No. 4, 2012

Abstract:
A prospective, placebo-controlled, single-blind, randomized study was conducted to examine the effect of Mexidol (2-ethyl-6-methyl-3-hydroxypyridine succinate) on the dynamics of the electrophysiological characteristics of the optic nerve and the velocity parameters of blood flow in the arteries of the eyeball and orbit in comparison with changes in retinal photosensitivity, visual acuity, and visual field sizes during a course of intravenous Mexidol administration during standard therapy for primary open-angle glaucoma. It was found that intravenous administration of Mexidol in a single dose of 300 mg 14 days after the start of treatment causes a decrease in the electrical sensitivity threshold of the optic nerve and a concomitant expansion of the total visual field when using a test object with an area of ​​16 mm². These effects of Mexidol were not accompanied by changes in blood flow in the arteries of the eyeball and orbit, were transient, and leveled out 3 months after the end of therapy. The delayed vasotropic effect of Mexidol was manifested by an increase in the blood flow velocity in the central retinal artery 90 days after the completion of infusion therapy.