Abstract: Objective To compare the concentrations of cytokines in aqueous humor of age-related cataract eyes and complicated cataract eyes after vitrectomy combined with silicone oil injection, and to investigate the relationship of cytokine concentrations with complicated cataract resulted from vitrectomy.  Design Experimental study.  Participants 19 eyes of complicated cataracts after vitrectomy combined with silicone oil injection and 11 eyes of age-related cataracts were enrolled into experiment group and control group, respectively. Method The cataract surgeries were performed 3 months to 6 years after vitrectomy combined with silicone oil injection. Aqueous humor of 0.1-0.2 ml was collected for each patient during cataract surgery. The concentrations of cytokines (IL-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-10, TNF-α, IFN-γ) in aqueous humor were measured with flow cytometry. Main Outcome Measures The concentrations of cytokines. Result The concentrations of IL-6 and IL-10 in the experiment group is 199635.64±28156.5 fg/ml and 273.57±206.7 fg/ml, respectively, both significantly higher than the concentrations in the control group (3340.96±1970.36 fg/ml and 117.45±64.77 fg/ml, respectively). For those two cytokines, there is statistic difference between the experiment group and the control group (P<0.05). There is no statistic difference between the experiment group and the control group for the other six cytokines. Conclusion Based on the study of the limited samples, the concentrations of IL-6 and IL-10 in aqueous humor of complicated cataract eyes after vitrectomy combined with silicone oil injection is statistically higher than in normal controls. The IL-6 and IL-10 may result to or accelerate the occurrence of complicated cataract. (Ophthalmol CHN, 2013, 22: 269-272)

Key words: complicated cataract/pathophysiology, vitrectomy, silicone oil, cytokine