Periodontal Disease and Diabetic Retinopathy

Abstract

Abstract: : Purpose: To investigate the relationship between the severity of periodontal disease and TNF-α and IL-6 in the vitreous fluid in diabetic retinopathy (DR).Methods: Twenty-five eyes of 35 diabetic patients were studied. Concentrations of IL-6 and TNF-α in vitreous fluid, obtained from the eyes during ocular surgery, were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. The severity of periodontal disease was quantified according to bone loss, were graded and evaluated. Concentrations of IL-6 and TNF-α in plasma were also measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. The correlations among the severity of periodontal disease and the levels of IL-6 and TNF-α were analyzed statistically.Results: The concentrations of IL-6 in the vitreous fluid were significantly correlated with the severity of periodontal disease (P<0.05). The concentrations of TNF-α in the vitreous fluid were not significantly correlated with the severity of periodontal disease. The IL-6 concentration in vitreous fluid was much higher than that in plasma. The concentrations of IL-6 and TNF-αin the vitreous were not correlated with those in the plasma.Conclusions: These results show that the concentrations of IL-6 in the vitreous fluid were significantly correlated with the severity of periodontal disease. It is possible that there is some relation between periodontal disease and DR.

Keywords: diabetic retinopathy • cytokines/chemokines • pathobiology