Quantifying Retinal Pigment Epithelium Dysmorphia and Loss of Histologic Autofluorescence in Age-Related Macular Degeneration.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

Lipofuscin and melanolipofuscin organelles in retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells are signal sources for clinical fundus autofluorescence (AF). To elucidate the subcellular basis of AF imaging, we identified, characterized, and quantified the frequency of RPE morphology and AF phenotypes in donor eyes with age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Methods

In 25 RPE-Bruch's membrane flat mounts from 25 eyes, we analyzed 0.4-μm z-stack epifluorescence images of RPE stained with phalloidin for actin cytoskeleton. Using a custom ImageJ plugin, we classified cells selected in a systematic unbiased fashion in six phenotypes representing increasing degrees of pathology. For each cell, area, AF intensity, and number of Voronoi neighbors were compared with phenotype 1 (unifo

SUBMITTER: Gambril JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6557619 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature