The changes of pattern electroretinography at the early stage of photodynamic therapy

Put-pose: To evaluate the short-term changes in pattern electroretinography (PERG) after photodynamic therapy (PDT). Methods: Thirty eyes of 30 patients (17 males, 13 females) with choroidal neovascularization secondary to age related macular degeneration were included in this study. Standard PDT with verteporfin was performed on each patient. Serial PERG recordings were performed before, 1 week, and 1 month after PDT. Results: Mean age of the patients was 69.6 +/- 8.4 years (range 56 and 90 years). One month after PDT, the visual acuity improved in 16 eyes, remained unchanged in 12 eyes and deteriorated in two eyes. New hemorrhages were seen in two eyes in the first week after PDT and visual acuity was decreased in those patients. No other patient complained of ocular and systemic adverse events. There was a statistically significant reduction in the amplitudes of P-50 and N-95 waves at the first week recordings after PDT. At 1 month after PDT, no significant differences in the P-50 and N-95 amplitudes were observed compared with pre-PDT PERG recordings. There were no significant changes in the latencies of P-50 and N-95 at the first week and first month recordings when compared with pre-treatment PERG values. Conclusions: Reduction in P-50 and N-95 amplitudes suggests that transient impairments in macular function occur at the first week after PDT

Electrooculography after photodynamic therapy

Purpose: To evaluate the changes in electrooculography (EOG) after photodynamic therapy (PDT). Methods: Thirty-eight eyes of 38 patients (21 males, 17 females) with choroidal neovascularization secondary to age related macular degeneration were included in this study. Standart PDT with verteporfin was performed on each patient. Serial EOG recordings were performed before, 1 week, and 1 month after PDT. Results: Mean age of the patients was 69.8 +/- 9.7 years (range 56 and 90 years). Seven days after PDT the visual acuity improved in 17 eyes, remained unchanged in 16 eyes and deteriorated in 5 eyes. One month after PDT the visual acuity findings were the same as the first week. New hemorrhages were seen in three eyes in the first week after PDT and visual acuity was decreased in those patients. No other patient complained of ocular and systemic adverse events. There was a statistically significant reduction in the Arden ratio of the EOG 1 week after PDT and the reduction persisted in the first month recordings. Conclusions: The reduction in Arden ratio of EOG findings may indicate that retina pigment epithelium function could be affected after PDT

Color vision changes in young subjects acutely exposed to 3,000 m altitude

Introduction: Performance of mountaineers, civil aircraft pilots, and of the personnel involved in many military operations in high mountains may rely on color discrimination at these moderate levels. The authors aimed at investigating the effects of moderate altitude (3000 m) exposure on color vision. Methods: Sixteen high school students, ages ranging between 14 and 17 yr, were enrolled in this study. Their color vision was examined with the Farnsworth-Munsell 100-Hue (FM-100 Hue) test at 1060 and 3000 m above the sea level and the total number of errors (all 4 sectors together) compared. Number of errors was also calculated for each of 4 sub-sectors and compared between these two altitudes. Results: There was a statistically significant increase in total number of errors (p = 0.001) as well as in number of errors in sector 1 (p = 0.007) and sector 3 (p = 0.013) at 3000 m when compared with 1060 m. Conclusions: Moderate altitude (3000 m) adversely affected the total number of errors on FM-100 Hue color vision testing of an acclimatized group of young individuals in a photopic environment and this deterioriation was significant in the blue-yellow range

The role of advanced oxidation protein products and total thiols in diabetic retinopathy

PURPOSE. This study aimed to investigate the role of protein peroxidation by detecting the serum levels of advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP), a novel marker for the degree of oxidative damage to proteins, and total thiol as a marker of antioxidant status in diabetic patients with or without diabetic retinopathy (DR) and to compare the results with those of control subjects

Serum paraoxonase activity is decreased in the active stage of Behcet's disease

Aims: To evaluate paraoxonase1 (PON1) activities and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels, one of the end products of lipid peroxidation induced by reactive oxygen species in patients with Behcet's disease (BD) in the active stage

Serum paraoxonase 1 activity and lipid peroxidation levels in patients with age-related macular degeneration

Our objective was to investigate antioxidant paraoxonase 1 (PON1) activity together with malondialdehyde (MDA) levels to evaluate oxidative stress in patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), an important cause of blindness in the elderly population. Serum PON1 activity and MDA levels were analyzed in 37 patients with AMD and compared with 29 healthy controls using a spectrophotometric method. Serum MDA levels were significantly higher in the patient group (2.76 +/- 1.28 nmol/ml) than controls (1.00 +/- 0.36 nmol/ml; p < 0.001), whereas PON1 activity was lower in the patient group (132.27 +/- 63.39 U/I) than controls (312.13 +/- 136.23 U/I; p < 0.001). There was a negative correlation between MDA and PON1 levels (r = - 0.470, p < 0.001). We conclude that the observed increase in MDA levels may be related to decreased PON1 activity; the present data also demonstrated that an obvious negative correlation between PON1 activity and MDA levels exists in patients with AMD. PON1 is also an antioxidant agent, therefore effective antioxidant therapy to inhibit lipid peroxidation is necessary and agents to increase PON1 activity may be a therapeutic option in AMD. Copyright (c) 2006 S. Karger AG, Basel

Experimental posterior perforating ocular injury in rabbit eyes: Effects of radiotherapy with or without intravitreal cyclosporin on vitreous proliferation

Double perforating ocular injuries were made in 30 rabbits and the effects of radiotherapy (RT) alone or in combination with cyclosporin (CS) on vitreous proliferation investigated. Thirteen rabbits in group 1 received RT alone (600 cGy), and 13 rabbits in group 2 received RT combined with 100 mu g of intravitreal CS. No treatment was given to 4 rabbits in the control group ( group 3). All animals were ophthalmologically examined on the 1st, 3rd, 7th, 14th and 28th days following the injury and the clinical findings scored; they were sacrificed on the 28th day, and histopathological scoring was made. The median histopathological score of the RT group (4.0; range: 0-8) was significantly higher than that of the CS + RT group (1.0; range: 0-5; p = 0.018). We conclude that intravitreal CS may be used as an adjunctive agent to RT to inhibit intraocular proliferation following penetrating ocular injury in rabbits. Copyright (c) 2006 S. Karger AG, Basel