Purpose: To assess the variation in cone photoreceptor density on the basis of age compatibility between healthy subjects, on one side, and type 1 diabetic patients with no diabetic retinopathy, on the other. Methods: A high resolution adaptive optics retinal camera in flood illumination regime was employed to image cones of 15 type I diabetic patients and 16 healthy controls. For each subject we scanned the cone mosaic in 4 perifoveal areas (nasally, temporally, superiorly and inferiorly) at 2, 3 and 4 degrees eccentricity. The impact of diabetes duration, gender and age were evaluated. Results: In the type I diabetic group we found a meaningful lower cone density (p<0.05), except for the temporal meridian at 2 and 4 degrees eccentricity. Moreover, a significant asymmetry of cone photoreceptor densities was proved between the horizontal and vertical meridians in both diabetic and control groups. Conclusion: The rtx1 retinal image evaluation demonstrated photoreceptors loss in DM1 diabetic patients prior to any clinical changes. Abbreviations: AO = adaptive optics, SS = swept source, OCT = optical coherence tomography, BCVA= best corrected visual acuity, DM = diabetes mellitus, DR = diabetic retinopathy.
Keywords: adaptive optics; diabetes; photoreceptors.