Purpose: To characterize the biological antioxidant potential (BAP) in the vitreous fluid in patients with rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD).Design: Laboratory investigation.
Materials and methods:Undiluted vitreous fluid was obtained at the time of vitrectomy from patients with RRD (45 eyes), proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR, 93 eyes), retinal vein occlusion (14 eyes), epiretinal membrane (ERM, 18 eyes) and macular hole (MH, 24 eyes). The BAP values were determined by measuring the reducing potential shown by the conversion of Fe 3+ to Fe 2+. Clinical features including the extent of the detachment, duration of symptoms, presence of proliferative vitreoretinopathy or vitreous hemorrhaging, and macular status (on or off), as well as the patient age were analyzed.Results: RRD patients exhibited a significantly lower BAP than MH patients, and PDR patients had a significantly lower BAP than ERM and MH patients. Regarding the clinical features, although the BAP in RRD patients was significantly correlated with the extent of the detached area (β=−0.384, p=0.008), there was no significant correlation between the BAP and the other features in a multivariate regression analysis.
Discussion:The present results suggest that significantly increased oxidative stress was present in RRD patients compared to MH Patients. Controlling oxygen stress may be an effective treatment for photoreceptor protection in cases of RRD.