PLASMA METABOLOMICS DETECTION DETERMINES THE METABOLITE PROFILING ASSOCIATED WITH DIABETIC RETINOPATHY AND PROGRESSION OF DISEASE

Abstract

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a major complication of diabetes, as a consequence it result into microvascular retinal changes on account of excess glycemic levels over a long time. Metabolomics profiling is one of the rapidly evolving detection strategy and is used to recognize the metabolites originated in serum and are responsible to investigate retinopathy progression in type-2 diabetic (T2D) patients. In this study, the serum metabolites concentrations was quantified in (T2D) patients.Diabetic patients were further categorized into three sub-groups based on the status of their complications: non-DR (NDR, n = 141), non-proliferative DR (NPDR, n = 124), and proliferative DR (PDR, n = 52) groups.The studied results revealed the concentrations of 62 metabolites of the NDR vs DR group, 53 metabolites of the NDR vs NPDR group, and 30 metabolites of the NDR vs PDR group were found to be significantly different. Of these metabolites, only sixteen metabolites were selected as common and specifically observed in NPDR and PDR groups. Among them, only three remaining metabolites comprising of total DMA, tryptophan, and kynurenine were act as potential maker system of retinopathy progression in T2D patients. Additionally, other metabolites such as carnitines, several amino acids, and phosphatidylcholinesalso showed distinguishing feature of potential marker system.

The metabolites recognized in this study will provide pathway to understand mechanisms concerning to retinopathy development and its progression in T2D patients, as it is helpful to diagnosis disease development at earlier stages and provide a valuable insight to develop appropriate therapeutic measures.

Keywords: metabolites, diabetic retinopathy, diabetes, metabolomics,