Molecular Research on Diabetic Retinopathy (DR)

Dear Colleagues,

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) remains one of the leading causes of vision impairment worldwide and represents a complex neurovascular complication of diabetes. Increasing evidence indicates that DR is not only a microvascular disease but also involves early retinal neurodegeneration, chronic inflammation, oxidative stress, metabolic dysregulation, and altered neurovascular coupling. At the molecular level, dysregulated signaling pathways related to angiogenesis, immune activation, cell death, mitochondrial dysfunction, and epigenetic regulation play critical roles in disease initiation and progression.

In recent years, interdisciplinary approaches have expanded DR research beyond traditional ophthalmology. Advances in anesthesiology and pain research have provided new insights into perioperative metabolic stress, neuroinflammation, and microcirculatory dysfunction, all of which may influence retinal vulnerability in diabetic patients. Moreover, emerging experimental platforms, including retinal organoids, stem cell–derived models, and organ-on-a-chip systems, offer powerful tools to recapitulate human retinal pathology and to investigate disease mechanisms and therapeutic responses in a translationally relevant manner.

This Special Issue aims to collect high-quality original research and reviews focusing on the molecular mechanisms underlying diabetic retinopathy. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, inflammation and oxidative stress, neurovascular unit dysfunction, metabolic and mitochondrial pathways, pain-related and anesthetic modulation of retinal injury, organoid-based disease modeling, biomarker discovery, and novel therapeutic targets. By integrating basic, translational, and interdisciplinary research, this Special Issue seeks to advance mechanistic understanding and promote innovative strategies for the prevention and treatment of diabetic retinopathy.

Dr. Siyuan Song
Guest Editor

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