Serum electrophoresis in patients of Eale's disease

ABSTRACT

Eales disease is an obliterative vasculopathy that usually involve peripheral retina of young adults. It is thought to be a nonspecific tissue response to a number of agents and exact etiology remains unknown. Many diseases reflect some alterations in electrophoretic pattern of serum proteins. This study was carried out to investigate electrophoretic pattern of serum proteins in Eales disease so as to throw some light on possible etiological factors in these patients. Thirty-two patients of Eales disease constituted the subject material for this study. Paper electrophoresis of the sera was performed by cellulose acetate method on Whatman filter paper No.10 using barbitone buffer of pH 8.6. Both patients and controls underwent complete ocular and clinical examination and followed up for one year. This was a descriptive study. Ten patients [30%] had raised total serum proteins out of 32 patients and ten patients [30%] had raised gamma globulin. Serum albumin was decreased in seven patients [20%] out of thirty-two patients of Eales disease. In our study 30% increase in total serum proteins and gamma globulins in Eales disease patients points to a possible role of some immunological process which manifests as retinal perivasculitis in eyes. An increase in erythrocyte sedimentation rate in >85% of cases is consistent with this suggestion