Cataract: A major secondary complication of diabetes, its epidemiology and an overview on major medicinal plants screened for anticataract activity

Cataract is a visual impairment caused due to opacification or optical dysfunction of crystallin\udlens affecting more than 17 million people around the world. Even though the incidences of\udcataract are increasing day by day among the elderly persons but, still except surgery no other\udways of treatment have been successfully developed so far. Thus, the aim of writing the present\udreview is to provide an insight over the pathophysiological and etiological aspects of cataract\udalong with discussing the remedies available for the disorder. The review also describes different\udexperimental models with their relevant mechanism and significance such as galactose-induced,\udnaphthalene-induced and selenite-induced cataract models which are mainly used for evaluating\udthe anticataract activity of a particular drug (mainly of natural origin). The review includes list\udof plants and their phytoconstituents which have been so far evaluated pharmacologicaly for\udthe treatment of cataract. From the survey, it was confirmed that the antioxidant property of\udplants phytoconstituents are basically responsible for their effective anticataract activity. Thus,\udthe valuable information provided in the present review will help researches in developing an\udalternative method rather than surgery for the treatment of cataract which will minimize the rate\udof blindness due to cataract thus, benefiting and extending protective aspects of eyes, an integral\udpart of human body