None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Diabetic neuropathy involves changes to peripheral somatic and autonomic innervation, as well as quantifiable changes to cranial nerves and the central nervous system. Corneal innervation provides important protective and trophic functions and its interruption may result in impaired cell attachment, altered epithelial structure, decreased mitotic rate, increased permeability, poor tear film and delayed wound healing. Reduced corneal sensation, observed in 70% of diabetics compared with 10% of controls, has been shown to be associated with duration of diabetic disease and correlates strongly with stage of peripheral neuropathy. We hypothesise that changes in corneal innervation, as imaged by in vivo confocal microscopy and assessed by aesthesiometry, will correlate with the stage of peripheral diabetic neuropathy, offering future potential for assessing nerve structure in vivo, without the need for nerve biopsy.
Interventions
Observational study. The changes in corneal innervation, thickness, epithelium, keratocyte density and endothelium will be observed in 100 participants with diabetic cornea and 40 age matched participants with normal cornea without any history of diabetes or corneal disorders. These will be correlated with the severity of peripheral diabetic neuropathy and retinopathy. The corneal nerve pattern will also be observed in both normal and diabetic cornea. The duration of the project is 3 years.
Sponsors
University of Auckland
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to 60 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
Type I Diabetes Mellitus
Exclusion criteria
History of contact lens wear ocular disease or ocular surgery use of preservative topical medications Any other known cause of neuropathy Any clinical evidence of significant corneal abnormality.
Outcome results
None listed