Eyesight May Get Affected By Drugs Used To Treat Erectile Dysfunction

A recent study has ascertained that drugs that are used to treat erectile dysfunction and pulmonary hypertension, like the anti-impotence drug (Viagra) and vardenafil (Levitra), will stop the reaction in PDE6 leading to side effects affecting vision.

In the study revealed within the journal Science Advances, researchers have captured for the first time, the full-length structure of the rod photoreceptor phosphodiesterase 6 (PDE6), an enzyme that plays an imperative role in human vision.

“PDE5 inhibitors are related to many visual side effects, as well as blurred vision, changes in color vision, extreme sensitivity to light, and in extreme cases, harm to the cranial nerve that relays optical signals to the brain. These aspect effects are caused by the binding of PDE5 inhibitors to PDE6 within the retina,” said Sahil Gulati, the lead investigator.

PDEs are related to numerous diseases and are targets of many widely used drugs and major targets for drug development. Sadly, several of those enzymes have similar structures, significantly their chemical action domains, where the chemical change takes place.

Because of this, inhibitors that concentrate on one variety of PDE can stop the reaction in multiple members of the PDE family, leading to unwanted side effects. Many cases of patients experiencing vision changes once using sildenafil citrate have been reported.

Researchers used single-particle cryo-electron research to examine the full-length PDE6 enzyme. They discovered fish-hook-like regions of the PDE6 structure that forms potential signal transduction routes from the restrictive domains of PDE6 to its chemical action domain.

“The high-resolution pictures we were able to capture clearly underscore the huge hidden fantastic thing about human vision and reveal many options of PDE6 that were previously unseen,” same Gulati.

“Included among them were some very promising regions of PDE6 that match fish-hooks. These regions are answerable for dominant PDE activity. By targeting the fish-hook-like region with a new category of PDE inhibitors, drug development firms is also able to eliminate unwanted side effects of sure PDE targeting medication,” added Gulati.

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