Original articleHistologic Basis of Variations in Retinal Pigment Epithelium Autofluorescence in Eyes with Geographic Atrophy
Section snippets
Eyes and Tissue Preparation
All research adhered to the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki and received institutional review board approval. Ten donor eyes (donor age range, 73–93 years) with evidence of GA were received from the Alabama Eye Bank within 6 hours after death. Globes were fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde overnight and were stored in 1% paraformaldehyde at 4°C. All eyes were examined and photographed with epi-illumination and transillumination under a preparation microscope (SMZ-U; Nikon Instruments, Inc,
Results
Results are reported from 10 donors (7 women and 3 men) with GA (mean age, 87.1±4.0 years) and 3 control donors (2 women and 1 man; mean age, 84.0±7.2 years), all white. Available eye health history for 4 GA eyes indicated a clinical presentation of AMD at 1.8 to 87.8 months before death.8 Gross examination revealed appearances typical of GA (Fig 2, available at http://aaojournal.org), including central RPE atrophy and a mottled junctional zone. Some eyes had lobulated borders formed by the
Discussion
Because FAF is being advocated for imaging RPE metabolism, a more complete understanding of the sources of FAF variability and their clinical significance is essential. This study provides the first systematic and quantitative analysis of RPE HAF in AMD eyes. The principal finding is that a variability in RPE cellular morphologic features underlies the increased FAF at the transition between normal RPE and GA. Areas with advanced RPE alterations (grades 2 or 3) are most likely to cause
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Manuscript no. 2011-1772.
Financial Disclosure(s): The author(s) have no proprietary or commercial interest in any materials discussed in this article.
Supported by the International Retinal Research Foundation, Birmingham, Alabama; the National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland (grant no.: EY06109); Eye Sight Foundation of Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama; Research to Prevent Blindness, New York, New York; Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (13942); Themenbezogene Forschungsförderung 2008 der Deutschen Ophthalmologischen Gesellschaft; and the AMD-Förderpreis 2009 der Deutschen Ophthalmologischen Gesellschaft. The funding organizations had no role in the design or conduct of this research. Dr. Read is a Research to Prevent Blindness Physician Scientist.