Quantitative determination of glycosaminoglycans in tears of diabetic patients.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the amount of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) in tears of patients with diabetic retinopathy (DR) and to compare it with normal subjects.


METHODS
38 patients with DR and 24 normal volunteers were included. Thirty subjects suffered from background diabetic retinopathy (BDR) and 8 from proliferate diabetic retinopathy (PDR). For the GAGs assay, the uronic carbazole reaction was used.


RESULTS
The mean concentration of GAGs was significantly higher in patients with DR than in normal subjects. The GAGs concentration in patients with BDR or PDR was significantly higher than in normal subjects.


CONCLUSIONS
The measurement of GAGs in tears of diabetic patients could be a tool in order to assess the stability or not of the disease.
Moschos
Marilita M
MM
Department of Ophthalmology, University of Athens, Greece. moschosmarilita@yahoo.fr
Rouvas
Alexandros A
AA
Papadimitriou
Spyridon
S
Kotsolis
Athanasios
A
Sitaras
Nikolaos
N
Apostolopoulos
Michael
M