Integrated Metabolomics and Transcriptomics Reveal Metabolic Patterns in Retina of STZ-Induced Diabetic Retinopathy Mouse Model

Diabetic retinopathy (DR), as the leading cause of vision loss in the working-age population, exhibits unique metabolite profiles in human plasma and vitreous. However, those in retina are not fully understood. Here, we utilized liquid and gas chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry technology to explore metabolite characteristics of streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic mice retina. A total of 145 metabolites differed significantly in diabetic retinas compared with controls. These metabolites are mainly enriched in the Warburg effect, and valine, leucine and isoleucine degradation pathways. To further identify underlying regulators, RNA sequencing was performed to integrate metabolic enzyme alterations with metabolomics in STZ-induced diabetic retina. Retinol metabolism and tryptophan metabolism are the shared pathways enriched by metabolome and transcriptome. Additionally, transcriptomic analysis identified 71 differentially expressed enzyme-related genes including Hk2, Slc7a5, Aldh1a3 and Tph integrated with altered metabolic pathways. In addition, single nucleotide polymorphisms within 6 out of 71 genes are associated with increased diabetes risk. This study lays the foundation for mechanism research and the therapeutic target development of DR.