Diabetic Retinopathy, Endothelial Progenitor Cells And Diabetic Retinopathy, Nerve Fiber Layer Thickness

Part I The Relation between Diabetic Retinopathy and Circulating Endothelial Progenitor CellsObjective: To investigate the endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) in different stages of the diabetic retinopathy. And to study the role of EPCs in the development of DR.Methods: A case-control study comparing 44 patients were included in this study. 20 volunteers were involved in control group. 22 patients with T2DM without DR were included in DM group. Patients were studied and staged for retinopathy according to the Early Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) classification. 22 patients were included:10 with nonproliferative DR and 12 with proliferative DR. The CD34+CD309+ cells were enumerated by flow cytometry.Results: The percentage of EPCs in lymphocyes in Peripheral blood is elevated significantly in PDR group than other three groups. The different between DM group and NPDR group is not significant (P=0.882). But the percentage of EPCs is higher in Control group than DM and NPDR groups (P<0.001).Conclusion: In DM without DR and in nonproliferative DR group,a reduction of EPCs were observed. And in proliferative retinopathy, a dramatic increase of EPCs was observed. EPCs might relate to the neovascularization in PDR. Part II Research of Diabetic Retinopathy and Panretinal Photocoagulation on Retinal Nerve Fiber LayerObjective : To determine the effect of diabetic retinopathy and panretinal photocoagulation on the peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer and the macular retinal thickness.Methods: 66 eyes for a control group were included.32 eyes were included for a 2-DM group.NPDR group included 26 eyes and PDR group included 20 eyes.20 eyes of 19 patients who underwent PRP at least 3 month later were included.All participants underwent optical coherence tomography of the peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer and macular retina.Results: (1) Eyes that had been treated with PRP had thinner peripapillary RNFL compared with PDR group(p=0.001).(2)The macular retinal thickness increased significantly in PDR group(p<0.05) which was not reduced significantly after the treatment of PRP.Conclusion:A decrease in peripapillary RNFL thickness was observed in DM patients. The peripapillary RNFL thickness decreased in DR patients after the treatment with PRP but the macular retinal thickness had not been changed significantly.