Image via WikipediaMedWire reported that, according to a study published in the journal Diabetes, high serum levels of prolactin are associated with a decreased risk for diabetic retinopathy.
After working with rats and also measuring serum prolactin in 40 nondiabetic and 181 diabetic men with various degrees of retinopathy, researchers led by Carmen Clapp of the Cellular and Molecular Biology institute at the Institute of Neurobiology found that mean prolactin levels were higher in diabetic versus nondiabetic individuals (34.1 vs. 16.3 ng/ml), but lower in diabetic patients with proliferative retinopathy than in those without this complication (26.7 vs. 32.8 ng/ml). Notably, the results were the same, regardless of whether patients had type 1 or type 2 diabetes.

The researchers conclude that prolactin is an important systemic inhibitor of diabetes induced retinal hypervasopermeability after its intra ocular conversion into vasoinhibins.

Posted in: Conditions and Diseases, Diabetic retinopathy, Health