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Increased plasma asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) levels in retinal venous occlusive disease
Angelo Zinellu1, Antonio Pinna, Salvatore Sotgia
1Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Sassari, Osilo, Italy. angelozinellu@libero.it
Background:
We investigated the levels of the endogenous nitric oxide synthase inhibitor asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA), as well as homocysteine and cysteine thiols, in a cohort of subjects affected by retinal vein occlusion (RVO) disease.
Methods:
Capillary electrophoresis analysis was performed in both RVO subjects (n=54) and in a control group (n=32).
Results:
No differences were found between controls and patients; however, after categorisation for RVO type, central RVO (CRVO) patients showed higher levels of ADMA (0.710+/-0.139 micromol/L) than controls (0.635+/-0.117 micromol/L) and branch RVO patients (0.642+/-0.096 micromol/L). Moreover, cysteine plasma levels were also significantly higher in CRVO patients than in controls (265.8+/-46.9 vs. 226.7+/-51.9 micromol/L, p<0.01), while homocysteine plasma concentration was more or less identical in all groups.
Conclusions:
We hypothesise that the elevated levels of cysteine in CRVO patients may post-translationally inhibit dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase enzyme activity, as already described for homocysteine, thus contributing to the accumulation of ADMA in this patient group.
