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According to a study, the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy in the Mexican population was found to be 31.5%.
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According to the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, 5% of people with some type of retinopathy will require treatment to prevent irreversible blindness.
A new study suggests that an endogenous system that protects human retinal endothelial cells from the deleterious effects of hyperglycemia may be responsible for the late onset of diabetic retinopathy.
Furthermore, the degradation of this protective system over time can set the stage for the development of diabetic retinopathy. The new study was published in The American Journal of Pathology.
“The prevailing understanding of the causes of diabetic retinopathy predicts that it will develop soon after the onset of diabetes mellitus,” explained lead investigator Andrius Kazlauskas, of the Departments of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences and Physiology and Biophysics, University of Illinois at Chicago. ,USA.
How did they do the study?
According to the research, the researchers cultured human retinal endothelial cells in either normal glucose or high glucose media. Unexpectedly, they found that prolonged exposure to high glucose levels was beneficial, not harmful.
After one day, the health of the cells deteriorated, but as the duration of exposure was prolonged, the cells recovered and gained resistance to diabetes mellitus-related damage, such as inflammation and death.
The researchers found that adaptation was associated with better mitochondria functionality. Mitophagy is the process in which cells remove damaged mitochondria, and disruption of this intrinsic quality control system is associated with many diseases.
What is diabetic retinopathy?
According to the Mayo Clinic, diabetic retinopathy is a complication of diabetes that affects the eyes. It is caused by damage to the blood vessels in the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye.
Anyone with type 1 or type 2 diabetes can develop this disorder. The longer you’ve had diabetes and the less you’ve controlled your blood glucose, the more likely you are to develop this eye complication.
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