ABSTRACT
Background The deposition of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) in lens is the risk factor of diabetic complications.Researches revealed that AGEs has autofluorescence.Crystallin is a longevity protein.AGEs accumulation is probably associated with diabetic retinopathy (DR).Objective This study was to evaluate the association of AGEs autofluorescence intensity with diabetes and with DR.Methods A cross-sectional study was carried out under the approval of Ethic Committee of Shenyang He Eye Hospital and informed consent of each patient.One hundred eyes of 100 patients with age-related cataract aged 50-70 years were included in He Eye Hospital from September to December 2015.The patients were divided into non-diabetes group (40 patients) and diabetes group (60 patients),and then the patients in diabetes group were subdivided into non-DR (NDR) group,non-proliferating DR (NPDR) group and proliferating DR (PDR) group according to the DR grading criteria,20 patients for each.Glycosylated henoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and fasting plasma glucose (FPG) were detected for each subject,and the lens autofluorescence was assayed with lens fluorescence biomicroscope (Clearpath DS120).The association of lens autofluorescence intensity with serum HbA1c level or DR severity was analyzed.Results The age and diabetes course were matched among the non-diabetes group,NDR group,NPDR group and PDR group (F=2.587,2.899,both at P＞0.05),and the FBS and HbA1c level were evidently higher in the NDR group,NPDR group and PDR group than those in the non-diabetes group (all at P＜0.01).The autofluorescence intensity of lens was (0.159±0.032),(0.256±0.024),(0.319 ±0.013) and (0.394±0.035) cd in the non-diabetes group,NDR group,NPDR group and PDR group,respectively,showing a significant difference among the groups (F =90.265,P =0.000).The autofluorescence intensity of lens in the NDR group,NPDR group and PDR group was significantly increased in comparison with the non-diabetes group and the autofluorescence intensity of lens was gradually increased with the severity of DR (all at P＜0.01).A positive linear correlation was found between autofluorescence intensity of lens and serum HbA1 c level in diabetes patients (r =0.654,P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions The autofluorescence intensity of AGEs in lens appears to be associated with the severity of DR and HbA1 c.The autofluorescence intensity of AGEs in the lens of diabetes patient is probably one of the evaluation indexes of early stage of DR.