Int. J. Med. Sci. 2019, Vol. 16 729 Ivyspring International Publisher International Journal of Medical Sciences 2019; 16(5): 729-740. doi: 10.7150/ijms.32222 Research Paper Protective Effects of Rosmarinic Acid against Selenite-Induced Cataract and Oxidative Damage in Rats Chia-Fang Tsai1,2, Jia-Ying Wu2, Yu-Wen Hsu 3 1. Department of Applied Cosmetology, National Tainan Junior College of Nursing, Tainan, Taiwan. 2. Department of Biotechnology, TransWorld University, Yunlin County, Taiwan. 3. Department of Optometry, Da-Yeh University, Changhua, Taiwan. Corresponding author: Hsu is to be contacted at the Department of Optometry, Da-Yeh University, No.168, University Rd., Dacun, Changhua 51591, Taiwan. Tel.: +886 4 8511888. E-mail address:
[email protected] © Ivyspring International Publisher. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY-NC) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). See http://ivyspring.com/terms for full terms and conditions. Received: 2018.12.12; Accepted: 2019.03.29; Published: 2019.05.10 Abstract Cataracts are the major cause of blindness and are associated with oxidative damage of the lens. In the present study, the aim was to evaluate the protective effects of rosmarinic acid on selenite-induced cataractogenesis in Sprague-Dawley rat pups. The animals were randomly divided into five groups, each of which consisted of 10 rat pups. Group I served as normal control (vehicle administration). For testing cataract induction, animals of Groups II, III, IV, and V were administered a single subcutaneous injection of sodium selenite (2.46 mg/kg body weight) on postpartum day 12.