The development of retinopathy in sucrose-fed and streptozotocin-diabetic rats.
Normal and streptozotocin-diabetic rats have been maintained for 6--11 months on completely balanced, reconstituted diets in which the sole source of carbohydrate was either 68% corn starch or 68% sucrose. The retinal vascular system was isolated by trypsin digestion and examined histologically for the presence of tortuosity and irregularity of capillary diameter, increased PAS-positive deposits, microaneurysms, loss of pericytes, endothelial proliferation, acellularity and strand formation. None of these pathological changes occurred in normal rats fed a starch-rich diet, but all developed to a similar extent in the sucrose-fed normal rats and the starch-fed diabetic group. The changes were more severe in sucrose-fed diabetic rats after 6 months. In all groups the retinopathy progressed with time. The possibility that a factor common to both the ingestion of a sucrose-rich diet and streptozotocin diabetes in rats has been considered since, histologically, the retinopathy observed was identical both with respect to severity and rate of development in normoglycaemia, sucrose-fed and hyperglycaemia, starch-fed diabetic rats.
D000818:Animals; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000139:chemically induced; D003930:Diabetic Retinopathy / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000473:pathology; D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates / Q000008:administration & dosage; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D012171:Retinal Vessels / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D013213:Starch; D013311:Streptozocin; D013395:Sucrose / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects*
D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates; D013395:Sucrose; D013311:Streptozocin; D013213:Starch