[Structural and functional disorders of transcapillary metabolism if retina in patients with diabetic retinopathy]

Transcapillary metabolism of the retina and effects of triglycerides on the transcapillary function of the retina in diabetes mellitus were examined in 79 patients (mean age 45.4 +/- 3 years) with various stages of diabetic retinopathy (DR) by fluorometry of the vitreous body. The filtration in the blood-retina direction was 1.2-1.3 times higher than in the control as early as during the functional and preclinical stages of DR, and the coefficient of fluorescein withdrawal from the vitreous body was 4.5 to 6.2% decreased. As DR progressed, the permeability of the blood-retinal barrier in the blood-retina direction increased and the discharge from the retina to the blood was decelerated, which was confirmed by a progressive prolongation of diffusion of 0.1 ml of 1% fluorescein solution injected subconjunctivally: from 1.3 +/- 0.2 and 1.4 +/- 0.5 h in the functional and preclinical stages, respectively, to 2.7 +/- 0.3 h in the proliferative stage of DR versus 1.05 +/- 0.01 h in the control. The level of serum triglycerides and coefficients of fluorescein entry in and withdrawal from the vitreous body, time of papule diffusion, and vascular changes in the microcirculatory vessels reliably correlated.