Lamina cribrosa remodeling as a risk factor of early retinal neurodegeneration in diabetes mellitus.

Abstract

Retinal neurodegeneration can be found in early stages of diabetes mellitus (DM), and is increasingly being hypothesized to occur prior to the vascular changes classically associated with diabetic retinopathy (DR). Analysis of literature data over the past 10-15 years confirms the presence of neurodegenerative changes, established by electroretinography and optical coherent tomography (OCT), in the absence of vascular changes. Biomechanical properties of the optic nerve head (ONH) are affected by DM, including increased stiffness, and advanced glycation end products accumulate in the ONH in diabetics. Changes of the scleral lamina cribrosa (LC) morphology may be a precondition of ONH and retina damage in DM. So, the assumption of the existence of a relationship between biomechanical peculiarities of the scleral LC and retinal ganglion cell complex (GCC) changes in DM seems logical. The aim of the study. To analyze the state of scleral LC in type 2 diabetes mellitus and the corresponding morphometric changes in retinal GCC.