First Evidence Indicates the Physiology- and Axial-Myopia-Dependent Profiles of Steroid Hormones in Aqueous Humor

Abstract

The quantitative level of steroid hormones (SHs) in some body fluids have been accepted for clinical diagnosis, whereas their distribution in aqueous humor (AH) is unknown yet. Herein, a profiling study was conducted with a total of 171 AH and 107 plasma samples using liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC MS/MS). For the first time, six kinds of SHs in AH were quantitatively estimated, and their abundances were ranked at cortisol (F), corticosterone (COR), androstenedione (A2), and 11-deoxycortisol (11DOC). The corresponding abundance of all SHs in AH was significantly lower than those in plasma, while there was a lack of a proportional relationship with the abundance of plasma SHs. Dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, the most abundant plasma SH, was undetectable in AH, implying that the blood–aqueous barrier might specifically block its transferral. Axial myopia generally results from many factors throughout the entire eye from tissues and molecules; furthermore, the correlation of AH SHs and axial myopia was assessed to look for their indication in such myopia. The panel with five kinds of AH SHs (F, COR, CORT, ALD and A2) was functional as a discriminator for axial myopia and control. The abundance of SHs, therefore, has a specific distribution in AH and can potentially contribute to axial myopia.

Ocular steroidome in human eyes and in eyes with complex central serous chorioretinopathy (CSCR)

“…Whilst all tested corticoids were measured in the serum as expected, only 17-OHP, E, F, A and B were above limit of quantification in the aqueous humor in the gluco and mineralocorticoid pathways, confirming previous observation that aldosterone is not measurable in the eye, under normal conditions 24 , 28 . Recently, one group analyzed corticoids using LC–MS/MS in aqueous humor and did measure aldosterone at level of 0.05 ng/ml 40 . We did not confirm this finding in our samples although limit of quantification for aldosterone is < 0.01 ng/ml with our method.…”