Researchers from Mexico and the United States developed a physical-theoretical model that allows evaluating the absorption of light in the fundus of the eye. With an innovative technique they were able to prove that people with diabetes are more likely to suffer vision impairment when exposed to light, even under normal lighting conditions, because their retinas are more sensitive.
The study by researchers of the Autonomous University of Sinaloa (UAS), the College of Optometry of Chicago and the Technical University of Munich is based on a mathematical method known as Monte Carlo, a tool to understand how light interacts with the eye tissue by allowing mathematically modelling certain scenarios; for example, abrupt increases in the absorption of light by the retinal layers or changes in their thicknesses. This can produce an increase in photochemical damage in the fundus of the eye caused by the incident radiation (light).
“The eyes, like the skin, when exposed to the sun’s rays without a protector can present problems at a microscopic level. Particularly, cases of extreme exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light absorption can produce free radicals that cause damage to the tissue of the fundus of the eye,” explains Dr. Emiliano Terán Bobadilla, researcher at the Faculty of Physical-Mathematical Sciences of the UAS and who coordinates the binational scientific consortium. He says that although UV light is the main cause of damage to eye tissues, it is not the only one that can impact our visual health, as blue light can also have negative impacts.
“Our work has to do with how the retina absorbs light from the environment or an external object. We found that there are situations in which the absorption of light, even in normal lighting conditions, can have a serious consequence on visual health; in other words, if you are exposed to diabetes and have diabetic retinopathy, your retina is more sensitive to the light“.
Dr. Terán Bobadilla details that diabetic retinopathy occurs because increases in sugar levels generate changes in the physiology of the fundus of the eye, increasing the thickness of the retina, particularly the neuronal retina.
“This thickening is what we could relate to the increase in absorption. In extreme situations it produces a macular edema, which is a detachment of the retina from the fundus of the eye.”
The results of the research so far were presented at the Congress of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), held in the city of Baltimore, USA, in November 2017 and in Hawaii in May 2018.
“The next step in the research is to conduct a clinical study based on the results of the physical model,” says Dr. Terán Bobadilla, who was recently accepted by ARVO in the Global Mentorship Program, and has been recognized with the Collaborative Research Fellowship – 2018.
Source: Agencia ID
