the retinal pigment epithelium something more than a constituent of the blood-retinal barrier—implications for the pathogenesis of diabetic retinopathy视网膜色素上皮的东西多的成分血视网膜barrier-implications糖尿病视网膜病变的发病机理.pdfVIP

Hindawi Publishing Corporation Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology Volume 2010, Article ID 190724, 15 pages doi:10.1155/2010/190724 Review Article The Retinal Pigment Epithelium: Something More than a Constituent of the Blood-Retinal Barrier—Implications for the Pathogenesis of Diabetic Retinopathy ´ ´ ´ Rafael Simo, Marta Villarroel, Lıdia Corraliza, Cristina Hernandez, ´ and Marta Garcia-Ramırez CIBER de Diabetes y Enfermedades Metabolicas Asociadas (CIBERDEM), Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), ´ Unitat de Diabetis i Metabolisme, Institut de Recerca Hospital Universitari Vall d’Hebron, Passeig Vall d’Hebron 119-129, 08035 Barcelona, Spain ´ Correspondence should be addressed to Rafael Simo, rsimo@ Received 29 June 2009; Revised 28 September 2009; Accepted 16 November 2009 Academic Editor: Karl Chai ´ Copyright © 2010 Rafael Simo et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) is an specialized epithelium lying in the interface between the neural retina and the choriocapillaris where it forms the outer blood-retinal barrier (BRB). The main functions of the RPE are the following: (1) transport of nutrients, ions, and water, (2) absorption of light and protection against photooxidation, (3) reisomerization of