ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Clinical Diabetes
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1481018
This article is part of the Research TopicOptical Coherence Tomography Angiography (OCTA) Applications in Ocular Complications of Diabetic MellitusView all 6 articles
Corneal Stromal Microdots Accumulation and its Association with Corneal Neurodegeneration and Retinal Microvascular Perfusion in Diabetes
Provisionally accepted
- First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China
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The purpose of the study was to investigate the deposition of microdots in corneal stroma in diabetes mellitus (DM) patients and assess the relationship between microdots and corneal nerve damage as well as retinal microvascular perfusion.Methods: 127 patients with DM and 36 age and sex-matched controls were included. All subjects were examined by in vivo confocal microscopy (IVCM) and optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA).Histochemistry staining was also performed in cadaver corneas from patients with DM or control subjects.The deposition of microdots was significantly increased in corneal stroma in patients with DM than controls (P<0.0001). Spearman's rank correlation showed that the deposition of microdots in subepithelial, anterior stromal, mid stromal, posterior stromal, and pre-Descemet stromal layers had positive correlations with corneal nerve fiber density (CNFD) (q<0.0001, q<0.0001, q<0.0001, q=0.0039, and q=0.0104), corneal nerve fiber length (CNFL) (q<0. 0001, q<0.0001, q<0.0001, q<0.0001, and q<0.0001), and corneal tortuosity (q<0.0001, q<0.0001, q<0.0001, q<0.0001, and q<0.0001). The subepithelial, anterior stromal, and mid stromal microdots also showed weak correlations with superficial vascular complexes (SVC) vessel density (VD) (q<0.0001, q=0.0011, and q=0.0004) and deep vascular complexes (DVC) VD (q=0.0001, q=0.0109, and q=0.0037). PAS and long Ziehl-Neelsen staining demonstrated lipofuscin deposits in cornea.Patients with DM demonstrated a significant increase of deposition of microdots in corneal stroma which correlates with corneal nerve loss and retinal microvascular perfusion. Microdots are at least partially composed of lipofuscin which is also observed in corneal basal epithelial layer.
Keywords: microdots, Lipofuscin, in vivo confocal microscopy (IVCM), Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography (OCTA), Diabetes mellitus (DM)
Received: 15 Aug 2024; Accepted: 11 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Wang, Zhang and Jin. 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:
Hong Zhang, First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China
Xin Jin, First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China
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