Aqueous Mushroom Extract as a Glaucoma Agent

The Prophet of Islam (Peace Be On Him) was reported to have said that 'mushroom are like manna and their water heals eye diseases'(Sahih Bukhari 1985). This statement is being investigated in view of the link between blood pressure and intra ocular pressure.

Glaucoma which is a sight threatening disease and is associated with raised intraocular pressure has been treated for a long time with beta blockers. Nowadays the drugs of choice are prostaglandin analogs. This study seeks to discover the effect of pleurotus tuberregium on raised intraocular pressure and to compare its effect on I.O.P with that of known glaucoma drugs. This study also seeks to find out at what concentration pleurotus is effective significantly on raised intraocular pressure

Clinical Investigation will be conducted in the Ophthalmological unit of UBTH in two phases. In the first phase 21 relatively young healthy subjects aged less than 50 yrs will be recruited for this study after their informed consent. They will have no previous systemic or ocular diseases and have an intraocular pressure of 19mmHg or less and a visual acuity of 6/6. Base line investigations will include the systolic and diastolic blood pressure, horizontal pupillary diameter and applanation tonometry. The subjects will be divided into three groups of seven each (A1, A2 and A3).

The study will at first constitute two weeks mushroom treatment, two weeks no mushroom treatment and then two weeks mushroom treatment. Treatment will be with aqueous extract of Oyster Medicinal mushroom Extract (4g/100ml) dose: п gutt tid x 1/52 for A1, 2g/100ml dose: п gutt tid x 1/52 for A2 and 1g/100ml dose: п gutt tid x 1/52 for A3. Investigations of the baseline parameters will be done at the start and after each seven days. The subjects will be monitored to ensure full compliance with the designed protocol.

The second phase will involve an equal number of age matched ocular hypertensive or glaucoma patient undergoing treatment in UBTH. They will also be divided into three groups of seven each and the treatment regimen above repeated. The IOP in this case will be taken by a masked observer.