salicylates and Diabetic-Retinopathy

Ophthalmic evolution was studied for 2 years in 17 patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and background diabetic retinopathy. Nine patients were treated with triflusal, a new platelet antiaggregant drug, and the eight remaining patients, with similar clinical and biological characteristics, were considered the control group. At the end of the study the ophthalmic evolution was different in the two groups. In the control group the degree of fluorescein leakage and the number of microaneurysms increased, while in the triflusal-treated group both parameters were reduced. There were no differences in visual acuity and computerised perimetry between the groups. Our results suggest that platelet antiaggregant therapy can be useful in the treatment of background diabetic retinopathy.

Topics: Adult; Clinical Trials as Topic; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1; Diabetic Retinopathy; Female; Humans; Male; Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors; Salicylates; Visual Acuity

It has been previously reported that aspirin inhibited the development of diabetic retinopathy in diabetic animals, raising the possibility that anti-inflammatory drugs may have beneficial effects on diabetic retinopathy. To further explore this, we compared effects of oral consumption of three different salicylate-based drugs (aspirin, sodium salicylate, and sulfasalazine) on the development of early stages of diabetic retinopathy in rats. These three drugs differ in their ability to inhibit cyclooxygenase but share an ability to inhibit nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB). Diabetes of 9-10 months duration significantly increased the number of TUNEL (transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling)-positive capillary cells and acellular (degenerate) capillaries in the retinal vasculature, and all three salicylate-based drugs inhibited this cell death and formation of acellular capillaries without altering the severity of hyperglycemia. In short-term diabetes (2-4 months), all three salicylates inhibited the diabetes-induced loss of neuronal cells from the ganglion cell layer. Oral aspirin (as a representative of the salicylate family) inhibited diabetes-induced increase in NF-kappaB DNA-binding affinity in electrophoretic mobility shift assay and transcription factor array in nuclear extract isolated from whole retina. All three salicylates inhibited the diabetes-induced translocation of p50 (a subunit of NF-kappaB) into nuclei of retinal vascular endothelial cells of the isolated retinal vasculature, as well as of p50 and p65 into nuclei of cells in the ganglion cell layer and inner nuclear layer on whole-retinal sections. Sulfasalazine (also as a representative of the salicylates) inhibited the diabetes-induced upregulation of several inflammatory gene products, which are regulated by NF-kappaB, including vascular cell adhesion molecule, intracellular adhesion molecule-1, inducible nitric oxide synthase, and cyclooxygenase-2 in whole-retinal lysate. Salicylates, in doses administrated in our experiments, inhibited NF-kappaB and perhaps other transcription factors in the retina, were well tolerated, and offered new tools to investigate and inhibit the development of diabetic retinopathy.

Topics: Administration, Oral; Animals; Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal; Aspirin; Cell Death; Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental; Diabetic Retinopathy; Inflammation; Male; NF-kappa B; NF-kappa B p50 Subunit; Protein Transport; Random Allocation; Rats; Rats, Inbred Lew; Retina; Retinal Ganglion Cells; Salicylates; Sodium Salicylate; Sulfasalazine; Transcription Factor RelA

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Diabetic Retinopathy; Drug Evaluation; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors; Prospective Studies; Salicylates

Topics: Diabetic Retinopathy; Humans; Light Coagulation; Platelet Aggregation; Salicylates; Scleral Buckling; Vitreous Body

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Diabetic Retinopathy; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Retinal Hemorrhage; Retinal Vessels; Salicylates; Time Factors

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Aspirin; Complement System Proteins; Diabetes Mellitus; Diabetic Retinopathy; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Salicylates

Topics: Aged; Allergy and Immunology; Arthritis; Arthritis, Rheumatoid; Diabetic Retinopathy; Geriatrics; Humans; Middle Aged; Salicylates; Statistics as Topic

Topics: Aminosalicylic Acid; Aminosalicylic Acids; Cholesterol; Diabetic Retinopathy; Exudates and Transudates; Humans; Lipids; Phospholipids; Salicylates

Topics: Adrenochrome; Diabetes Complications; Diabetic Retinopathy; Disease; Glaucoma; Humans; Retina; Retinal Diseases; Salicylates