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The neuroscience of diabetic retinopathy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 January 2021

David A. Antonetti Open the ORCID record for David A. Antonetti [Opens in a new window]
David A. Antonetti*
Affiliation:
Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Kellogg Eye Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
*
Address correspondence to: David A. Antonetti, E-mail: dantonet@med.umich.edu
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Abstract

Diabetic retinopathy remains a leading cause of blindness despite recent advance in therapies. Traditionally, this complication of diabetes was viewed predominantly as a microvascular disease but research has pointed to alterations in ganglion cells, glia, microglia, and photoreceptors as well, often occurring without obvious vascular damage. In neural tissue, the microvasculature and neural tissue form an intimate relationship with the neural tissue providing signaling cues for the vessels to form a distinct barrier that helps to maintain the proper neuronal environment for synaptic signaling. This relationship has been termed the neurovascular unit (NVU). Research is now focused on understanding the cellular and molecular basis of the neurovascular unit and how diabetes alters the normal cellular communications and disrupts the cellular environment contributing to loss of vision in diabetes.

Keywords

RetinaNeurovascular UnitBlood-Retinal BarrierDiabetes
Type
Perspective
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 38 , 2021 , E001
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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