Meyer L A, Ubels J L, Edelhauser H F
Department of Physiology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee 53226.
Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 1988 Jun;29(6):940-8.
Increases in corneal endothelial cell polymegathism and pleomorphism are characteristic of diabetic human and dog corneas. This study investigated the rat as a model for age- and diabetes-related changes in endothelial cell morphology. As in most mammals, aging of the normal rat results in a progressive decrease in cell density as well as reduced numbers of hexagonal endothelial cells and increased coefficient of variation of cell size after age 34 weeks. Streptozotocin-induced diabetes produced an early progressive increase in the coefficient of variation of cell size and decrease in percentage of hexagonal cells so that diabetic rats were significantly different from age-matched normal rats by 24 weeks of age. Topical treatment with the aldose reductase inhibitor, AL 1576, begun immediately after diabetes induction, prevents endothelial cell changes and cataract formation. Topical aldose reductase inhibition also reverses endothelial cell changes when treatment is begun 8 weeks after streptozotocin injection. These results indicate that the rat is a good model for studying diabetes-induced corneal endothelial changes and that topical aldose reductase inhibitors may be effective in preventing or reversing diabetic corneal endothelial cell changes.
角膜内皮细胞大小不均一性和多形性增加是糖尿病患者和糖尿病犬角膜的特征。本研究将大鼠作为年龄和糖尿病相关内皮细胞形态变化的模型进行了探究。与大多数哺乳动物一样，正常大鼠衰老会导致细胞密度逐渐降低，34周龄后六边形内皮细胞数量减少，细胞大小变异系数增加。链脲佐菌素诱导的糖尿病导致细胞大小变异系数早期逐渐增加，六边形细胞百分比降低，因此糖尿病大鼠在24周龄时与年龄匹配的正常大鼠有显著差异。糖尿病诱导后立即开始用醛糖还原酶抑制剂AL 1576进行局部治疗，可预防内皮细胞变化和白内障形成。在链脲佐菌素注射8周后开始治疗时，局部抑制醛糖还原酶也可逆转内皮细胞变化。这些结果表明，大鼠是研究糖尿病诱导的角膜内皮变化的良好模型，局部醛糖还原酶抑制剂可能有效预防或逆转糖尿病角膜内皮细胞变化。
