Abstract

Background: We investigated the levels of the endogenous nitric oxide synthase inhibitor asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA), as well as homocysteine and cysteine thiols, in a cohort of subjects affected by retinal vein occlusion (RVO) disease.
Methods: Capillary electrophoresis analysis was performed in both RVO subjects (n=54) and in a control group (n=32).
Results: No differences were found between controls and patients; however, after categorisation for RVO type, central RVO (CRVO) patients showed higher levels of ADMA (0.710±0.139 μmol/L) than controls (0.635±0.117 μmol/L) and branch RVO patients (0.642±0.096 μmol/L). Moreover, cysteine plasma levels were also significantly higher in CRVO patients than in controls (265.8±46.9 vs. 226.7±51.9 μmol/L, p<0.01), while homocysteine plasma concentration was more or less identical in all groups.
Conclusions: We hypothesise that the elevated levels of cysteine in CRVO patients may post-translationally inhibit dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase enzyme activity, as already described for homocysteine, thus contributing to the accumulation of ADMA in this patient group.

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