BLOOD-RETINA-BARRIER AND BLOOD-AQUEOUS-BARRIER IN PATIENTS WITH TYPE-1 DIABETES-MELLITUS WITHOUT RETINOPATHY - EVALUATION OF PERMEABILITY BY FLUOROPHOTOMETRY AND LASER FLARE MEASUREMENT

Background: Possibly early functional disruption of the blood-ocular b arrier in eyes of insulin dependent type I diabetics without manifesta tion of retinapathy can be detected using fluorophotometry and laser f lare measurement. Material and Methods: In order to evaluate blood-ret inal (BRB) and blood-aqueous-barrier (BAB) permeability fluorophotomet ry was performed in 34 eyes of 34 insulin-dependent type-I diabetics w ithout retinopathy, additionally the aqueous laser flare was measured. 34 normal eyes of 34 age-matched subjects served as controls. Results : BRB permeability (3.2 +/- 1.3 x 10(-7) cm/s) was increased with low significance (p = 0.019) in diabetic eyes (controls: 2.6 +/- 0.7). The permeability coefficient of BAB was found to be increased in diabetic s (5.3 +/- 1.8 x 10(-4)/cm) with higher significance (controls: 3.7 +/ - 0.7; p = 0.00003); laser flare values in diabetic eyes (5.0 +/- 1.2 photon counts/ms) were significantly higher than in controls (4.1 +/- 1.0; p = 0.003). In diabetics there was a significant correlation (r = 0.3; p = 0,014) between the laser flare values and the permeability c oefficient of BAB. Conclusions: In type-I diabetics without retinopath y BRB permeability seems to be increased slightly as well as laser fla re in the aqueous; the BAB permeability coefficient seems to be the mo st sensitive parameter in a beginning affection of the blood-ocular ba rrier.