Retinal capillary basement membrane thickening: Role in the pathogenesis of diabetic retinopathy.

ABSTRACT: Vascular basement membrane (BM) thickening has been hailed over half a century as the most prominent histological lesion in diabetic microangiopathy, and represents an early ultrastructural change in diabetic retinopathy (DR). Although vascular complications of DR have been clinically well established, specific cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying dysfunction of small vessels are not well understood. In DR, small vessels develop insidiously as BM thickening occurs. Studies examining high resolution imaging data have established BM thickening as one of the foremost structural abnormalities of retinal capillaries. This fundamental structural change develops, at least in part, from excess accumulation of BM components. Although BM thickening is closely associated with the development

SUBMITTER: Roy S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8590904 | biostudies-literature | 2021 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature