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Study: No effect from Ginkgo biloba on ocular blood flow
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A single dose of Ginkgo biloba does not appear to significantly affect ocular blood flow, according to a study by researchers in Austria. However, additional clinical trials are needed to determine whether it can influence ocular blood flow in patients with ocular vascular disease after long-term use, the study authors noted.
Barbara Wimpissinger, MD, and colleagues at the Medical University of Vienna evaluated the effect of a single 240-mg dose of Ginkgo biloba extract EGb761 on ocular blood flow in a randomized, double-masked, placebo-controlled study involving 15 healthy men.
The researchers found that EGb761 significantly decreased retinal venous diameters compared with baseline measurements, but there was no significant difference between groups.
Additionally, "Blood pressure, retinal arterial and venous diameters, choroidal blood flow, fundus pulsation amplitude, [IOP] and retinal blood flow remained unchanged in both groups and did not differ between groups," the authors reported.
Compared with baseline measurements, Ginkgo biloba caused a significant increase in optic nerve head blood flow, "but this effect was not significant compared with that of placebo," they wrote.
The study is published in the June issue of Acta Ophthalmologica Scandinavica.