Purpose: Concentrations of amino acids in the vitreous body of a control group were determined.
Material and methods: Patients who neither had undergone prior vitreous or intraocular surgery nor had a history of intraocular ischemia such as retinal vascular occlusion, diabetic retinopathy glaucoma history were studied. Undiluted vitreous samples were obtained from 64 patients with retinal detachment, preretinal macular membranes and macular holes, who underwent pars plana vitrectomy. Free amino acids were determined using high-performance liquid chromatography. Patients were divided into three groups: A (<50 years old), B (50-65 years old) and C (>65 years old).
Results: Glutamine+histidine had the higher concentration with 851.1 D.E. 74.2 mcmol/L, and the vitreous concentration of glutamate was 3.8 D.E. 5.1 mcmol/L and aspartate 3.7 D.E. 4.1 mcmol/L. No statistically significant differences were found in the vitreous concentrations of amino acids between different age groups and no statistically significant differences were found between the 3 pathological groups analysed (retinal detachment, macular hole and epiretinal membrane).
Conclusions: These results show that the concentration of acid amino acids in the vitreous body of a control group was not high and that in mature eyes the concentration of amino acids was maintained at a fairly constant level.