Somatostatin and somatostatin receptors in retinal diseases.

Somatostatin is a small neuropeptide that is produced in the central nervous system, where it acts as a neurotransmitter. This neuropeptide also has an important role in the neuroendocrine system as an inhibitor of hormone release, the most striking example of which is the inhibition of growth hormone release. The role of somatostatin in eye disease recently became of interest because of its role in proliferative diabetic retinopathy and cystoid macular oedema (1±3). In this paper, we discuss the role of somatostatin in the retina and also present preliminary results of treatment of exudative age-related macular disease with the somatostatin analogue, octreotide.