Nutritional Supplementation Inhibits the Increase in Serum Malondialdehyde in Patients with Wet Age-related Macular Degeneration

Abstract

Purpose : To compare serum levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) in patients with wet age-related macular degeneration (wAMD), patients with dry AMD (dAMD), and patients without AMD, and to evaluate the efficacy of nutritional supplementation for treating elevated serum MDA in patients with wAMD.

Methods : MDA levels were measured in sera from 20 patients with wAMD, 20 with dAMD, and 24 without AMD (mean age was 71.8 ± 11.0 years, 70.6 ± 12.5 years, 68.2 ± 10.2 years, respectively). Correlations between serum MDA levels and ages, visual acuity, or choroidal neovascular lesion area measured by fluorescein angiography images in eyes with wAMD / geographic atrophy area measured by fundus autofluorescence images in eyes with dAMD were analyzed. Patients with wAMD were randomized to receive or not receive nutritional supplementation (10 patients in each group), and MDA levels were measured after 3 months of treatment.

Results : MDA levels in patients with wAMD (9.94 ± 1.53 pmol/ml) were significantly greater compared with patients without AMD (9.04 ± 0.96 pmol/ml, P = 0.031). An increase in MDA was also observed in the dAMD group (9.30 ± 0.92 pmol/mL) compared with the control group, although the difference was not significant. In eyes with wAMD, there was a significant correlation between MDA levels and choroidal neovascularization lesion area (P = 0.038, r = 0.39). After 3 months of treatment, serum MDA levels in patients received supplementation decreased from 10.34 ± 2.03 pmol/ml at baseline to 8.88 ± 1.18 pmol/ml (P = 0.064) and significantly increased from 9.54 ± 0.70 pmol/ml at baseline to 10.41 ± 1.36 pmol/ml in those who did not (P = 0.012).

Conclusions : Baseline serum MDA levels were elevated in patients with wAMD, and MDA levels were directly correlated with choroidal neovascularization lesion area. In addition, nutritional supplementation appeared exert a protective effect against oxidative stress in patients with wAMD.

This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2017 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Baltimore, MD, May 7-11, 2017.