| Description |
Diabetic retinopathy is the most common cause of vision loss among people with diabetes and the leading cause of vision impairment and blindness among adults. The human retina is known to have a unique lipid profile enriched in very-long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (VLC-PUFAs) which appear to promote normal retinal structure and functions. Significantly decreased levels of VLC-PUFAs and low n-3/n-6 ratios have been found in the retina of patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD); however, the effects of diabetes on retinal VLC-PUFAs are not clearly understood. In this study, we studied the differences in retinal lipid compositions in diabetic eyes as compared to age-matched controls in human and animal models. The VLC-PUFA levels and n-3/n-6 ratios were unchanged in postmortem diabetic retinas in comparison to age-matched control retinas, in part due to the limited number of human donor eyes available for this project. To further study the effect of omega-3 supplementations on VLC-PUFA levels in diabetic models, we chose diabetic Nile rat (spontaneous diabetes) and Akita mouse (genetic diabetes) models. After a month of supplementation with omega-3 PUFAs, VLC-PUFA levels and n-3/n-6 VLC-PUFA ratios increased in diabetic Nile rats in comparison to age-matched control rats. Our results in the present study indicate that VLC-PUFA levels are lower in diabetes and diabetic retinopathy and that dietary supplementation with omega-3 PUFAs may help to improve dyslipidemia. |
