Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Kellogg Eye Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Vis Neurosci. 2021 Jan 18;38:E001. doi: 10.1017/S0952523820000115.
Diabetic retinopathy remains a leading cause of blindness despite recent advance in therapies. Traditionally, this complication of diabetes was viewed predominantly as a microvascular disease but research has pointed to alterations in ganglion cells, glia, microglia, and photoreceptors as well, often occurring without obvious vascular damage. In neural tissue, the microvasculature and neural tissue form an intimate relationship with the neural tissue providing signaling cues for the vessels to form a distinct barrier that helps to maintain the proper neuronal environment for synaptic signaling. This relationship has been termed the neurovascular unit (NVU). Research is now focused on understanding the cellular and molecular basis of the neurovascular unit and how diabetes alters the normal cellular communications and disrupts the cellular environment contributing to loss of vision in diabetes.
尽管近年来治疗方法有所进步，但糖尿病性视网膜病变仍然是导致失明的主要原因。传统上，糖尿病的这种并发症主要被视为一种微血管疾病，但研究表明，神经节细胞、胶质细胞、小胶质细胞和光感受器也发生了改变，而且这种改变通常在没有明显血管损伤的情况下发生。在神经组织中，微血管和神经组织形成了密切的关系，神经组织为血管形成一个独特的屏障提供信号，这个屏障有助于维持适当的神经元环境以进行突触信号传递。这种关系被称为神经血管单元（NVU）。目前的研究重点是了解神经血管单元的细胞和分子基础，以及糖尿病如何改变正常的细胞通讯并破坏细胞环境，导致糖尿病患者视力丧失。
