The development and extension of fibrovascular or fibroglial membranes onto the retinal surface are a major cause of visual loss in diabetic patients with proliferative retinopathy and in patients suffering from retinal detachment with proliferative vitreoretinopathy. The pathogenesis of these proliferative diseases, however, remain poorly understood and the nature of growth-promoting mediators implicated in these phenomena has not been determined yet. Using indirect immunofluorescence procedures, three different growth factors known to be mitogenic for various cell components of preretinal membranes, acidic fibroblast growth factor, epidermal growth factor and insulin-like growth factor type I, were sought in 14 specimens of preretinal proliferative tissues. Similar results were obtained in diabetic preretinal membranes and tissues from patients with proliferative vitreoretinopathy. The three different growth factors were found diffusely in the connective stroma and around new blood vessels within the vascular walls. Some fibroblast-like and pigment epithelial-derived cells more markedly reacted with anti-growth factor antibodies. These results provide indications on the eventual involvement of three potent growth factors in intraocular proliferative diseases, but whether or not these mediators play an active role in the development of preretinal membranes remains to be determined.

No abstract