Journal of the Korean Ophthalmological Society  1993;34(11):1148-1153

Ultrastructural Study on Basement Membrane Thickening of Iris Capillaries in Diabetic Patients.

Jun Seok TAE 1 ; Jung Hyub OH ; Oh Woong KWON

Affiliations

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Keywords

Basement membrane; Capillary; Diabetes; Iris

Country

Republic of Korea

Language

Korean

Abstract

The early ultrastructural changes of basement membrane thickening and degeneration of the pericyte were noted in retinal capillaries in diabetic patients. However no early ultrastructural changes were reported in diabetic iris capillary. The authors studied the ultrastructural features of basement membrane of iris capillaries which were obtained during cataract surgery in five diabetic patients and compared with those obtained in five nondiabetic patients. The endothelium basal lamina, pericyte basal lamina and membrane-like pericyte matrix in didabetic iris capillaries were thicker than those in nondiabetic Iris capillaries. The thickening of pericyte basal lamina is more prominant than the endothelium basal lamina in diabetes. The duration of diabetes had no relationship to endothelium basal lamina but, showed statistically significant relationship to thickness of pericyte bascal lamina and pericyte matrix.