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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Med.
Sec. Ophthalmology
Volume 12 - 2025 |
doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1541360
This article is part of the Research Topic Ophthalmology meets Microfluidics: Advances in Lab-on-a-chip technologies for Ocular Healthcare View all articles
Lipid profile in the Aqueous Humor of Diabetic Macular Edema Patients
Provisionally accepted
Su Mengru 1,2
Qinglu Song 3* Ruiwen Cheng 2* Ye Zhang 2*
Xinghong Sun 1,2* Feng Jiang 2*
Qinghuai Liu 3*- 1 Department of Ophthalmology, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital Clinical College of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
- 2 Department of Ophthalmology, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, China
- 3 Department of Ophthalmology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
Diabetic macular edema (DME) has become a global public health focus due to its increasing prevalence and significant impact on central vision. The aim of this study is to analyze the lipid profile characteristics of aqueous humor in DME patients and to identify differential lipid compounds that may serve as potential biomarkers for the pathogenesis and therapeutic intervention. A nontargeted lipidomics approach based on liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was used to analyze the lipid profiles of aqueous humor from patients with diabetic macular edema (DME group, 11 cases), diabetic cataracts (DC group, 14 cases), and age-related cataract (ARC group, 15 cases). The validation of identified lipid compounds through Orthogonal Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis (OPLS-DA) was conducted to examine possible varied lipid markers, setting the parameters of VIP > 1 and P < 0.05. Additionally, correlation network analysis, community classification, and functional enrichment analysis were performed on the differential lipids. 90 lipid compounds were identified, encompassing a range of 13 lipid categories. There were significant differences in the lipid profiles of the aqueous humor in DME. The lipid profile characteristics of aqueous humor in patients with DME are described for the first time. Compared to the control group. Various lipid metabolic disorders, such as sphingolipids particularly ceramide, phospholipids, and triglycerides, are involved in the pathogenesis of DME, and can be further studied as potential diagnostic and therapeutic lipid biomarkers.
Keywords: lipidomic, diabetic macular edema, Macular disease, Diabetic cataract, Aqueous Humor
Received: 07 Dec 2024; Accepted: 03 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Mengru, Song, Cheng, Zhang, Sun, Jiang and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Qinglu Song, Department of Ophthalmology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
Ruiwen Cheng, Department of Ophthalmology, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, China
Ye Zhang, Department of Ophthalmology, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, China
Xinghong Sun, Department of Ophthalmology, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital Clinical College of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
Feng Jiang, Department of Ophthalmology, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, China
Qinghuai Liu, Department of Ophthalmology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
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