Research progress on the protective effect and mechanism of puerarin on diabetic retinopathy

Increasing prevalence and incidence of diabetes mellitus(DM)-the most common chronic consumptive disease worldwide-has a devastating impact on people's daily lives, particularly through the deterioration or complete loss of vision brought on by diabetic retinopathy(DR). Therefore, it is imperative to investigate the pathogenesis and effective treatment of DR. Meanwhile, Pueraria lobata is the extensively used dried root of kudzu or dried kudzu, also known as Pueraria flavonoids. Moreover, its roots are primarily composed of isoflavones, Pueroside ABC, triterpenes, and alkaloids, which can calm cardio-cerebrovascular smooth muscle and enhance microcirculation. Currently, it is widely employed for the treatment of cardio-cerebrovascular diseases, osteonecrosis, DM and its complications, neurodegenerative disorders, endometriosis and tumor diseases. Inhibiting retinal neovascularization, alleviating ischemia and hypoxia, decreasing advanced glycation end products in diabetes, raising insulin-like growth factor(IGF)expression while decreasing tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-a)expression, decreasing vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF)expression, reducing retinal nerve cell death, inhibiting the NOD-like receptor protein 3(NLRP3)inflammatory pathway and inhibiting ferroptosis are all mechanisms by which puerarin(Pue)has been found to protect the retina in recent studies. Thus, this article summarizes the current comprehension of the mechanism and protective effect of Pue on diabetic retina, serving as a guidepost for its future development and application.