Nutritional Supplementation Inhibits the Increase in Serum Malondialdehyde in Patients with Wet Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Abstract

Purpose. To compare serum levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) in patients with wet age-related macular degeneration (wAMD), patients with dry AMD (dAMD), and patients without AMD and to evaluate the efficacy of nutritional supplementation for treating elevated serum MDA in patients with wAMD. Methods. MDA levels were measured in sera from 20 patients with wAMD, 20 with dAMD, and 24 without AMD. Patients with wAMD were randomized to receive or not receive nutritional supplementation (10 patients in each group), and MDA levels were measured after 3 months of treatment. Results. MDA levels in patients with wAMD were significantly greater compared with patients without AMD. In eyes with wAMD, there was a significant correlation between MDA levels and choroidal neovascularization lesion area. Serum MDA levels decreased in most patients that received supplementation and significantly increased in those who did not. Conclusion. Baseline serum MDA levels were elevated in patients with wAMD, and MDA levels were directly correlated with choroidal neovascularization lesion area. In addition, nutritional supplementation appeared to exert a protective effect against oxidative stress in patients with wAMD.

Figure 1

Serum MDA levels in the study population and changes in MDA levels in wAMD patients that received nutritional supplementation. (a) Higher serum MDA levels were observed in the wAMD group. (b) MDA levels tended to decrease in wAMD patients that received supplementation for 3 months. (c) MDA levels decreased in 7 of the 10 patients in the S (+) group and increased in the remaining 3 patients. (d) MDA levels decreased in 2 of the 10 patients in the S (−) and increased in the other 8 patients. ^∗P < 0.05.

Figure 2

Representative images of wet AMD and dry AMD. (a, b) The color (a) and fluorescein angiography (FA, b) images of a representative case of wet AMD. The CNV lesion area in FA images was measured. (c, d) Representative case of dry AMD. Geographic atrophy area in the autofluorescein angiography image (d) was measured. (e, f) images are the OCT images of wet AMD and (g, h) are of dry AMD.

Figure 3

Correlation between MDA levels and patient characteristics in the wet AMD and dry AMD groups. (a–c) In the wet AMD group, serum MDA levels and choroidal neovascularization (CNV) lesion area were significantly correlated, but MDA levels were not correlated with ages or visual acuity. (d–f) In the dry AMD group, there was no significant correlation between serum MDA levels and age, visual acuity, or geographic atrophy (GA) area.