ABSTRACT
To show that L-carnitine [LC] is capable of reducing non-oxidative stress in the retinal pigment epithelial cells [RPE] of the human eye. The RPE cells were cultured from donor eyes, obtained immediately after post-mortem. The interaction between bovine serum albumin [BSA] and non-oxidative [sodium hydroxide and methyl methane sulphonate] stressinducers was observed by recording the change in the absorption profiles of the interacting molecules after incubation in light for 5 hours and after treatment with LC. The isolated and cultured RPE cells from human eyes were treated with sodium hydroxide or methyl methane sulphonate and/or LC for 5 hours under light, and the qualitative effect on cell morphology after treatment was analyzed by staining the cells with Giemsa and visualization by light microscopy. The cell morphology was also qualitatively analyzed by scanning electron microscopy [SEM]. L-carnitine and stress-inducers interact with BSA and bring about changes in the spectral profile of the interacted molecules. Light microscopy as well as SEM show that the changes in the cellular morphology, induced by 100 micro M concentrations of non-oxidative stress-inducers, are considerably reduced in the presence of 100 micro M LC. However, L-carnitine alone does not cause any qualitative damage to the cell morphology during incubation under similar conditions. The results give a preliminary indication that LC has the ability to reduce the changes brought about by the non-oxidative stress-inducers in the RPE cells in culture