Lipid peroxidation and diabetic retinopathy

The high level of glucose in blood for a long duration is the main cause of the development of retinopathy. So yearly screening of patients newly diagnosed with NIDDM diabetes is recommended because rare cases of treatable diabetic retinopathy have occurred early in one course of NIDDM diabetes. Hyperglycaemia leads to non-enzymatic glycosylation of proteins and HbA1C was found increased. Antioxidants such as GSH and SOD level is found decreased in retinopathy conditions due to the higher lipid peroxidation, which is evident from high MDA and DC values. So it can be clearly stated that increase in the free radical by hyperglycaemia, lipid peroxidation and advanced glycosylation endproducts along with decreased antioxidants are the causative agents for the development of retinopathy.