Purpose: To determine the amount of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) in tears of patients with diabetic retinopathy (DR) and to compare it with normal subjects.
Methods: 38 patients with DR and 24 normal volunteers were included. Thirty subjects suffered from background diabetic retinopathy (BDR) and 8 from proliferate diabetic retinopathy (PDR). For the GAGs assay, the uronic carbazole reaction was used.
Results: The mean concentration of GAGs was significantly higher in patients with DR than in normal subjects. The GAGs concentration in patients with BDR or PDR was significantly higher than in normal subjects.
Conclusion: The measurement of GAGs in tears of diabetic patients could be a tool in order to assess the stability or not of the disease.
Keywords: diabetic retinopathy; glycosaminoglycans; tears.