Abstract
Background: Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) is one of the long-term complications of Diabetes Mellitus (DM) and constitutes the leading cause of blindness in working-age individuals. Prolactin (PRL) is a peptide hormone that is linked with lactation but many studies have demonstrated that PRL could have protective value against DR. Aim: To evaluate the role of prolactin in pathophysiology of DR. Methods: This study is designed to find an association between PRL level and DR. In this case-control study, a total of 300 subjects were recruited to participate in the study, 150 subjects apparently healthy as control group and other 150 patients were diagnosed with type 2 DM who were classified into diabetic patients with DR (75) and diabetic patients without DR (75). Serum PRL was measured by autoanalyzer (TOSOH AIA system), HbA1c was measured by another automated chemical analyzer (Cobas c system). Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 21 using an independent samples T-test and Pearson's correlation. Results: Independent samples of T-test analysis show a significant decrease in PRL level in the diabetic patients with DR in comparison to the diabetic patients without DR (p˂0.05). Person's correlation revealed that there was an insignificant correlation between PRL level with duration of DM and patients age. Conclusion: These findings suggest that low PRL level might be associated with DR.
Highlights
Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) is one of the long-term complications of diabetes that develops from microangiopathy
There is a significant decrease in the level of PRL in DR patients in comparison to diabetic patients without DR (p-value 0.007), where the mean level of PRL is 8.41 ± 2.29 for DR patients and 10.12 ± 1.24 for diabetic patients without DR
This finding supports that there is an inverse correlation between the serum PRL level and DR, the inverse correlation suggests that circulated level of PRL can influence the DR progression by inhibition of vasopermeability and angiogenesis through PRL conversion to vasoinhibin
Summary
Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) is one of the long-term complications of diabetes that develops from microangiopathy. DR is initiated by loss of pericyte and endothelial cells of the retinal capillary that lead to the increased retinal vasopermability, causing exudates, intraretinal hemorrhages and capillary closure which cause hypoxia. Vascular Endothelial Cell Growth Factor (VEGF) is locally produced as a result of hypoxia. VEGF stimulates microangiogenesis and the newly formed blood vessels extended to vitreous causing vitreous bleeding, fibrosis and. Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) is one of the long-term complications of Diabetes Mellitus (DM) and constitutes the leading cause of blindness in working-age individuals. Prolactin (PRL) is a peptide hormone that is linked with lactation but many studies have demonstrated that PRL could have protective value against DR
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