ASSESSMENT OF SMOOTH MUSCLE CELL AND ENDOTHELIAL FUNCTIONS IN BRANCH RETINAL VEIN OCCLUSION
Sinan Bilgin* MD, Ozcan Kayikcioglu, MD, Prof., Tansu Erakgun MD, Prof., and
Meral Kayikcioglu MD, Prof.
ABSTRACT
Objective: One of the common retinal vascular disorder is branch
retinal vein occlusion (BRVO) that causes visual impairment. The
purpose of this study is to evaluate vascular smooth muscle cell and
endothelial functions in BRVO patients. Materials and Methods:
Thirty 30 BRVO patients and 30 healthy subjects were included in this
study. Nitrate-mediated dilatation (NMD) which represent smooth
muscle relaxation and flow-mediated dilation (FMD) which represent
the endothelium-dependent relaxation of the brachial artery were
measured by ultrasonography. Biochemical and laboratory tests
including total cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL-cholesterol, LDLcholesterol,
apolipoprotein(Apo)-A1, Apo-B and mean systolic blood pressure (SBP),
diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were also considered. Results: The median NMD value was
15.55 (12.3 /25) % in the control group and 12.5 (8.3 / 18.7) in the BRVO group (p<0.001).
The mean FMD value was 9.71±2.19% in the control group and 5.13±2.72% in the BRVO
group (p=0.002). The mean SBP value was 117.17±7.01 in the control group and
140.17±10.38 in the BRVO group (p=0.001). The median DBP value was 75.5 (61 / 84) in
the control group and 89.5 (68 / 109) in the BRVO group (p<0.001). Also FMD and SBP
were found as an independent risk factor for BRVO (p=0.040 and p=0.019). Conclusion:
Impaired brachial artery NMD and FMD levels may imply that not only endothelial dysfunction also smooth muscle cell dysfunction may play a role in the occurrence of BRVO. Also these parameters can be used for further analyses of these patients.
Keywords: Branch retinal vein occlusion, flow-mediated dilation, nitrate-mediated dilatation, endothelial dysfunction, smooth muscle cell dysfunction.
[Full Text Article]