{"title":"Degradation of widely used antiglaucoma drugs mediated by photo-generated reactive oxygen species","authors":"Charis Parramón Jurado , Cecilia Liaudat , Marcela Altamirano , Cecilia Challier , Susana Criado","doi":"10.1016/j.jphotochem.2026.117158","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are produced as by-products of oxygen metabolism and play an essential role in biological systems. In the eye, ROS can also be generated through the photosensitizing action of natural pigments like riboflavin. Disruption of the balance between ROS production and the antioxidant defense system leads to oxidative stress, which contributes to the development and progression of ocular diseases such as glaucoma. Under these conditions, oxidative degradation may occur in ophthalmic drugs used to treat glaucoma, potentially reducing their therapeutic efficacy and generating toxic products.</div><div>This study investigates the ROS-mediated degradation of widely used antiglaucoma drugs dorzolamide (DZ), ethoxzolamide (ET) and brimonidine tartrate (BT) in the presence of riboflavin and rose bengal as photosensitizers. Photochemical and spectroscopic analyses confirmed that these drugs interact with the electronically excited states of riboflavin and with various photo-generated ROS from these states, undergoing oxidative degradation <em>via</em> Type I and Type II mechanisms. The antiglaucoma drugs also exhibited pro-oxidant capacity, being able to generate O<sub>2</sub>(<sup>1</sup>Δ<sub>g</sub>) upon direct irradiation and self-degrading under these conditions.</div><div>Furthermore, the potential cytotoxic effects of the degradation products were evaluated using human MRC-5 cells. The results showed that neither the drugs nor their oxidation products were significantly cytotoxic under the current experimental conditions.</div><div>These findings emphasize the importance of considering oxidative stability when formulating ophthalmic drugs, offering valuable insights into their behavior under oxidative stress scenarios.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":16782,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A-chemistry","volume":"478 ","pages":"Article 117158"},"PeriodicalIF":4.4000,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A-chemistry","FirstCategoryId":"92","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1010603026001371","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2026/3/3 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"CHEMISTRY, PHYSICAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are produced as by-products of oxygen metabolism and play an essential role in biological systems. In the eye, ROS can also be generated through the photosensitizing action of natural pigments like riboflavin. Disruption of the balance between ROS production and the antioxidant defense system leads to oxidative stress, which contributes to the development and progression of ocular diseases such as glaucoma. Under these conditions, oxidative degradation may occur in ophthalmic drugs used to treat glaucoma, potentially reducing their therapeutic efficacy and generating toxic products.
This study investigates the ROS-mediated degradation of widely used antiglaucoma drugs dorzolamide (DZ), ethoxzolamide (ET) and brimonidine tartrate (BT) in the presence of riboflavin and rose bengal as photosensitizers. Photochemical and spectroscopic analyses confirmed that these drugs interact with the electronically excited states of riboflavin and with various photo-generated ROS from these states, undergoing oxidative degradation via Type I and Type II mechanisms. The antiglaucoma drugs also exhibited pro-oxidant capacity, being able to generate O2(1Δg) upon direct irradiation and self-degrading under these conditions.
Furthermore, the potential cytotoxic effects of the degradation products were evaluated using human MRC-5 cells. The results showed that neither the drugs nor their oxidation products were significantly cytotoxic under the current experimental conditions.
These findings emphasize the importance of considering oxidative stability when formulating ophthalmic drugs, offering valuable insights into their behavior under oxidative stress scenarios.
期刊介绍:
JPPA publishes the results of fundamental studies on all aspects of chemical phenomena induced by interactions between light and molecules/matter of all kinds.
All systems capable of being described at the molecular or integrated multimolecular level are appropriate for the journal. This includes all molecular chemical species as well as biomolecular, supramolecular, polymer and other macromolecular systems, as well as solid state photochemistry. In addition, the journal publishes studies of semiconductor and other photoactive organic and inorganic materials, photocatalysis (organic, inorganic, supramolecular and superconductor).
The scope includes condensed and gas phase photochemistry, as well as synchrotron radiation chemistry. A broad range of processes and techniques in photochemistry are covered such as light induced energy, electron and proton transfer; nonlinear photochemical behavior; mechanistic investigation of photochemical reactions and identification of the products of photochemical reactions; quantum yield determinations and measurements of rate constants for primary and secondary photochemical processes; steady-state and time-resolved emission, ultrafast spectroscopic methods, single molecule spectroscopy, time resolved X-ray diffraction, luminescence microscopy, and scattering spectroscopy applied to photochemistry. Papers in emerging and applied areas such as luminescent sensors, electroluminescence, solar energy conversion, atmospheric photochemistry, environmental remediation, and related photocatalytic chemistry are also welcome.