The Relationship between Diabetic Retinopathy and Corneal Autofluorescence

ABSTRACT

The metabolic changes in diabetics result in progressive retinopathy and influence corneal metabolism. Changes in corneal autofluorescence were demonstrated originating from mitochondrial flavoproteins and influenced by the metabolic changes in cornea in diabetics. The corneal autofluorescence was determined to evaluate its correlation with diabetic retinopathy using fluorophotometer in 25 healthy controls, 25 diabetic mellitus(DM) pationts without retinopathy, 25 background diabetic retinopathy(BDR)patients, 25 preproliferative diabetic retinopathy (PPDR) patients, and 25 proliferative diabetic retinopathy(PDR) patients. The mean values(mean +/- standard deviation in ng fluorescein/ml) were 13.9 +/- 1.9, 18.7 +/- 3.1, 19.6 +/- 2.3, 20.2 +/- 4.0, 24.3 +/- 4.2, respectively. The means of coreal autofluorescence values in diabetics were significantly higher than that of the healthy controls(p0.05), but the mean value in PDR patients was significantly higher than those of the other 4 groups(p<0.001). These results indicate that measurement of corneal autofluorescence can play a supplementary role in diagnosing diabetic retinopathy.