AIM: To analyze the changes in serum and aqueous humor of patients with diabetic cataracts in vitamin C, oxidative stress products, inflammatory factors and vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF)levels.

METHODS: From January 2018 to December 2019, 40 patients with diabetic cataract(40 eyes)were selected as the observation group, and 40 patients with simple cataract(40 eyes)were selected as the control group. The differences in the levels of vitamin C, oxidative stress products(malondialdehyde), inflammatory factors(IL-6 and IL-8)and VEGF in blood and aqueous humor samples of the two groups of patients were analyzed.

RESULTS: There was no difference in serum vitamin C levels between the two groups(P>0.05), but the aqueous vitamin C levels in the observation group were significantly lower than those in the control group(20.6±13.6mg/L vs 27.2±9.9mg/L, P<0.05); There was no difference in the serum malondialdehyde level of patients(P>0.05), but the aqueous malondialdehyde level of the observation group was significantly higher than that of the control group(12.6±4.6nmol/mL vs 8.0±3.1nmol/mL, P<0.001); Serum and aqueous humor IL-6 and IL-8 levels were significantly higher than those of the control group(P<0.001); there was no difference in serum VEGF levels between the two groups(P>0.05), but the observation group's aqueous humor VEGF levels were significantly higher than the control group(45.6±20.6pg/mL vs 16.5±4.5pg/mL, P<0.001).

CONCLUSION: Compared with patients with simple cataract, patients with diabetic cataract have similar serum vitamin C, oxidative stress products and VEGF levels, but there are greater differences in the levels of vitamin C, oxidative stress products and VEGF in their aqueous humor. At the same time, patients with diabetic cataracts serum and aqueous humor inflammatory factor levels are higher than those of patients with simple cataract.