Protective Effect of Mangiferin on Blue Light-Induced Acute Damage of Retinal Pigment Epithelial 19 Cells

Photochemical damage to retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells is implicated in the pathogenesis of age-related macular degeneration. This study investigated the protective effect of mangiferin on RPE cells subjected to blue light-induced damage. Using human-derived acute RPE 19 (ARPE-19) cells as an in vitro model, we incubated ARPE-19 cells with mangiferin and subsequently subjected those cells to damage-inducing blue light irradiation. Cell viability was measured by Cell Counting Kit-8. Intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) level was analyzed using flow cytometry. The results indicate that mangiferin can protect ARPE-19 cell growth after blue light-induced damage. However, the preincubation of ARPE-19 cells with lutein did not demonstrate the same protective effect against photo-induced damage. Lutein increased ROS generation and reduced cell viability (72 h), but mangiferin reduced the ROS level compared with the blank control. Our results demonstrate that mangiferin had a protective effect on blue light-induced RPE cell damage.