A Possible Mechanism for Blindness Associated with Diabetes: Na -Dependent Glucose Uptake by Retinal Cells

Background In the retina of the eye, there are equal amounts of endothelial cells and cells called pericytes. The two types of cells are associated with one another and may communicate with each other. The investigators were particularly interested in pericytes because it had been observed that pericyte damage and basement membrane thickening occur during the early stages of diabetic retinopathy. Diabetic retinopathy eventually leads to blindness. The investigators were interested in the factors responsible for causing pericyte damage. They noted that cells in the kidney that were similar in function to the pericytes possessed a sodium-coupled glucose transporter (SGLT), and they hypothesized that the pericytes might also have such a transporter. They hypothesized that such a transporter, if it existed, would facilitate and perhaps regulate the entry of glucose into the cell. Next, the investigators determined if entry of glucose into the cell was correlated with collagen synthesis. They also investigated several inhibitors of the glucose transport process.