Abstract
Purpose :
Diabetic retinopathy is a disease of progressive vascular-neurodegeneration. The neurotrophin (NT) family includes nerve growth factor (NGF), brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), neurotrophin-3 (NT-3), and neurotrophin-4 (NT-4). NT are a group of growth factors that play a critical role in the development, survival, maintenance, and repair of the nervous system, as well as play essential roles in angiogenesis and fibrosis. Intraocular neurotrophins influence local vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels. We assayed the human vitreous in an attempt to further investigate the effect of peripheral retina ablation with PRP on the levels of intravitreal neurotrophins in diabetic retinopathy.
Methods :
Prospective study with 15 patients with diabetic retinopathy, of which 9 had a history of previous PRP. The indications for vitrectomy were rhegmatogenous and tractional retinal detachment, non-clearing vitreous hemorrhage, and epiretinal membrane peel. Undiluted vitreous samples were collected and frozen in liquid nitrogen during transfer to a -80°C freezer until assay. Quantitative analysis was determined using neurotrophins ELISA (R & D System, Minneapolis, MN).
Results :
Nine (60%) vitreous samples were collected from eyes with a history of PRP, and six (40%) control samples were from eyes without a history of PRP. The average patient age was 60.6 years (Range: 42-78). Our quantitative data (Table 1) indicates no change overall in expression of NT in the human vitreous in diabetic eyes with a history of PRP compared to eyes without a history of PRP.
Conclusions :
Our study reinforced the presence of NT in the human vitreous in diabetic retinopathy, and highlights the lack of effect that PRP has on NT levels in diabetic retinopathy.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.