Apolipoprotein B-containing lipoproteins in retinal aging and age-related macular degeneration.

ABSTRACT: The largest risk factor for age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) is advanced age. With aging, there is a striking accumulation of neutral lipids in Bruch's membrane (BrM) of normal eye that continues through adulthood. This accumulation has the potential to significantly impact the physiology of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). It also ultimately leads to the creation of a lipid wall at the same locations where drusen and basal linear deposit, the pathognomonic extracellular, lipid-containing lesions of ARMD, subsequently form. Here, we summarize evidence obtained from light microscopy, ultrastructural studies, lipid histochemistry, assay of isolated lipoproteins, and gene expression analysis. These studies suggest that lipid deposition in BrM is at least partially due to accumulat

SUBMITTER: Curcio CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2817575 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature