Clinical and Molecular-Genetic Insights into the Role of Oxidative Stress in Diabetic Retinopathy: Antioxidant Strategies and Future Avenues.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) overproduction and ROS-signaling pathways activation attack the eyes. We evaluated the oxidative stress (OS) and the effects of a daily, core nutritional supplement regimen containing antioxidants and omega 3 fatty acids (A/ω3) in type 2 diabetics (T2DM). A case-control study was carried out in 480 participants [287 T2DM patients with (+)/without (-) diabetic retinopathy (DR) and 193 healthy controls (CG)], randomly assigned to a daily pill of A/ω3. Periodic evaluation through 38 months allowed to outline patient characteristics, DR features, and classic/OS blood parameters. Statistics were performed by the SPSS 24.0 program. Diabetics displayed significantly higher circulating pro-oxidants ( = 0.001) and lower antioxidants ( = 0.0001) than the controls. Significantly higher plasma malondialdehyde/thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (MDA/TBARS; = 0.006) and lower plasma total antioxidant capacity (TAC; = 0.042) and vitamin C (0.020) was found in T2DM + DR versus T2DM-DR. The differential expression profile of solute carrier family 23 member 2 (SLC23A2) gene was seen in diabetics versus the CG ( = 0.001), and in T2DM + DR versus T2DM - DR ( < 0.05). The A/ω3 regime significantly reduced the pro-oxidants ( < 0.05) and augmented the antioxidants ( < 0.05). This follow-up study supports that a regular A/ω3 supplementation reduces the oxidative load and may serve as a dietary prophylaxis/adjunctive intervention for patients at risk of diabetic blindness.