Studies demonstrate neuro-retinal damage in patients with diabetes and no clinically visible diabetic retinopathy. It is unknown which retinal regions are most vulnerable to diabetes. We hypothesized that the standard and slow-flash (sf-) multifocal electroretinogram (mfERG) and adaptive optics (AO) imaging will localize retinal regions of vulnerability.
Fifty-five adolescents with diabetes and 54 controls underwent mfERG testing to isolate predominately retinal bipolar cell activity and sf-mfERG testing to isolate three oscillatory potentials (OPs) from intraretinal amacrine and interplexiform cells. Greatest mfERG delays were in the superior temporal quadrant and at 5°-10° eccentricity. Greatest sf-mfERG delays were found at different eccentricities for each OP.
Twenty adolescents with diabetes and 14 controls underwent AO imaging. No significant differences in cone photoreceptor density were found; however, patients showed a trend towards reduced density in the superior nasal region.
Inner retinal structures may be more susceptible to damage by diabetes than outer retinal structures.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TORONTO/oai:tspace.library.utoronto.ca:1807/33569 |
| Date | 27 November 2012 |
| Creators | Tan, Wylie |
| Contributors | Westall, Carol |
| Source Sets | University of Toronto |
| Language | en_ca |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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