Abstract:Objective To preliminarily investigate the protective effects of soy isoflavones on retinal ganglion cells (RGC) damage in diabetic rats and related mechanisms. Methods Fourty male SD rats(80eyes) aged 4-6 weeks were randomly divided into a control group (Con group), a diabetic group (Mod group), a soy isoflavone low-dose-treated group and a soy isoflavone high-dose-treated group, with 10 rats in each group. Among them, the control group was fed with normal chow,the diabetic group,the soy isoflavone low-dose-treated and the soy isoflavone high-dose-treated group were fed with high-fat chow . After 8 weeks of feeding, rats in the diabetic group, the soy isoflavone low-dose-treated group and high-dose treatment groups were injected intraperitoneally with STZ at a dose of 50 mg·kg-1 to establish a diabetic model, and rats in the control group were given the same volume of sodium citrate buffer acid. The soy isoflavone low-dose-treated was given 360 mg·kg-1 of soy isoflavones by daily gavage to the diabetic model
