PURPOSE Several studies have reported higher levels of macular pigment (MP) in association with reduced risk for age-related macular degeneration (ARMD), a disease to which there is a genetic predisposition. A classic twin study was performed to determine the heritability of MP in the healthy eye. METHODS One hundred fifty twin pairs (76 monozygotic [MZ] and 74 dizygotic [DZ]), aged 18 to 50 ...

An 18 year-old male with no antecedent of trauma, systemic syndrome or myopia was referred for surgical treatment of a full thickness macular hole in the left eye. A more careful inspection revealed discrete foveal cystic changes in the fellow eye and subtle peripheral depigmented retinal pigment epithelial changes in both eyes. A spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) scan confi...

Previous studies of human retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) morphology found spatial differences in density: a high density of cells in the macula, decreasing peripherally. Because the RPE sheet is not perfectly regular, we anticipate that there will be differences between conditions and when and where damage is most likely to begin. The purpose of this study is to establish relationships among ...

Lutein and zeaxanthin, two carotenoid pigments of the xanthophyll subclass, are present in high concentrations in the retina, especially in the macula. They work as a filter protecting the macula from blue light and also as a resident antioxidant and free radical scavenger to reduce oxidative stress-induced damage. Many observational and interventional studies have suggested that lutein and zea...

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of legal blindness among the elderly. In AMD and some other macular diseases, subfoveal choroidal neovascularization (CNV) damages the underlying retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), and because retinal function is dependent on a healthy RPE, vision is markedly reduced by a subfoveal CNV. To treat such CNVs, macular translocation surgery ...

Three dietary carotenoids, lutein (L), zeaxanthin (Z) and meso-zeaxanthin (MZ) accumulate at the central retina (macula), where they are collectively referred to as macular pigment (MP). MP's pre-receptoral absorption of blue light and consequential attenuation of the effects of chromatic aberration and light scatter are important for optimal visual function. Furthermore, antioxidant activity o...

PURPOSE To investigate the relationship between percentage of body fat and macular pigment (MP) optical density. METHODS One hundred healthy subjects of ages between 22 and 60 years volunteered to participate in this study. MP optical density was measured psychophysically, serum lutein and zeaxanthin were quantified by HPLC, and dietary intake of lutein and zeaxanthin was assessed using a val...

In senile disciform macular degeneration the retina and pigment epithelium are elevated by serous fluid, which arises from subpigment epithelial fibrovascular tissue originating from the choroid. Disciform macular degeneration was described in the igth century (Oeller, I893) and yet by 1939, when the "Text-Book of Ophthalmology" was being written, Duke-Elder (I940) could find only I30 cases in ...