**4.7 Effects of anthocyanins in the male reproductive system**

Smoking, drinking, staying up late, or genital tract infections, exposing to the phenols chemicals, heavy metals, and the external environmental high ionizing radiation, may significantly increase free radicals production in the male reproductive system. The high free radicals can cause many diseases to the reproductive system in the male. GSPE, as a highly effective antioxidant, plays an important role in the prevention and treatment of related male reproductive diseases. GSPE can antagonize the reproductive toxicity of male mice caused by heavy metals, fluorine, and semicarbazide, enhance the sperm survival rate, and reduce the sperm malformation rate. It is also confirmed that GSPE can increase the activity of lactate dehydrogenase X and glutamyl transpeptidase in the mice's testis of semicarbazide infected and reduce the activity of acidic phosphatase, in which it is proven that GSPE possesses a good repaired function for the testis injuries. In addition, GSPE

can elevate the SOD activity of testicular tissue induced by testicular torsion reduction, decrease the MDA level, and appear to be an obvious protection to mice reproductive function injury. Meanwhile, GSPE can also inhibit the spermatogenic cells apoptosis in experimental cryptorchidism male rats, and the effective mechanism is also derived from the antioxidant capacity of GSPE [44].

### **4.8 Applications of anthocyanins in ophthalmology**

With the popular of various electronic devices such as mobile phones, computers, and LED lights, the blue light harm is the more and more to people. The longterm blue light irradiation to retina can cause a lot of free radicals produced. These free radicals can result in retinal pigment epithelial cell apoptosis, intraocular metabolic abnormalities, toxin trash accumulation, and hindering of the blood circulation, which cause myopia, cataracts, macular degeneration, ocular fundus diseases, vitreous opacity, floaters, retinopathy, and other eye diseases. Proanthocyanidins can effectively eliminate oxygen free radicals, which is beneficial to the treatment of ophthalmological diseases. Studies showed that anthocyanins can significantly improve visual fatigue and the early myopia and the distant vision of mild myopia [45]. This result indicated that proanthocyanidin eye drops have good effect for the treatment of xerophthalmia [46]. Muthenna et al. also provided that *Cinnamomum cassia* Presl proanthocyanidin extract B2 can improve the cataract of diabetic rats, ameliorate the optic nerve blood perfusion, and block the optic nerve cell apoptosis induced by ischemia. The possible effective mechanism of anthocyanins is that anthocyanins have a strong scavenging ability for free radical and inhibiting intracellular calcium overload and then protect the optic nerve structure and function [47]. In addition, anthocyanins also have therapeutic effects to glaucoma, in which the effective mechanism of anthocyanins is both removing free radicals and reducing intracellular calcium overload and also is related to the enhancement of SOD activity. Furthermore, anthocyanins can alleviate further injury of the optic nerve in the eye surgery, which is also associated to raising SOD activity [48, 49].
