To investigate the role of macular pigment in preserving foveal short-wavelength-sensitive (SWS) visual function in the ageing eye orientation identification acuity was measured in the fovea and at 12° eccentricity (nasal visual field) under SWS-cone isolating conditions in 73 participants (aged 20-71). Macular pigment optical density (MPOD) was measured at 0.5° eccentricity from the foveal cen...

BACKGROUND Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a disease with multiple risk factors, many of which appear to involve oxidative stress. Macular pigment, with its antioxidant and light-screening properties, is thought to be protective against AMD. A result has been the appearance of dietary supplements containing the macular carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin. More recently, a supplement ha...

Purpose Ocular and systemic measurement and imaging of the macular carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin have been employed extensively as potential biomarkers of AMD risk. In this study, we systematically compare dual wavelength retinal autofluorescence imaging (AFI) of macular pigment with skin resonance Raman spectroscopy (RRS) and serum carotenoid levels in a clinic-based population. Methods ...

PURPOSE Macular pigment may protect against age-related macular degeneration (AMD) by its capacity to absorb blue light and scavenge free radicals. Current information on human macular pigment density has been largely from studies on Caucasian populations. The purpose of this study was to assess macular pigment density and its determinant factors in a Chinese population sample. METHODS Macula...

purpose: to report a case of butterfly-shaped macular dystrophy. patient and findings: a 34-year-old woman presented with metamorphopsia in both eyes from 2 years ago. visual acuity was 9/10 in right eye and 10/10 in left eye. there was no pathologic finding on slit lamp biomicroscopy and funduscopy other than mild macular retinal pigment epithelium mottling. visual fields and electroretinogram...

PURPOSE To investigate the possible role of zinc-metallothionein in human retinal pigment epithelium with regard to age-related changes. METHODS A cadmium/heme assay was used to quantitate metallothionein in isolated macular and peripheral retinal pigment epithelium from donors ranging in age from 28 to 91 yr (n = 16, mean age = 68.6 yr). RESULTS It was found that peripheral retinal pigment...

The macular region of the primate retina is yellow in color due to the presence of the macular pigment, composed of two dietary xanthophylls, lutein and zeaxanthin, and another xanthophyll, meso-zeaxanthin. The latter is presumably formed from either lutein or zeaxanthin in the retina. By absorbing blue-light, the macular pigment protects the underlying photoreceptor cell layer from light damag...

One thousand black African and 380 white Caucasian patients over the age of 50 were examined for evidence of age-related macular changes, namely, drusen, pigment epithelial atrophy, and disciform macular degeneration. Drusen and pigment epithelial changes were found to occur twice as commonly in Caucasians as in Africans; there was a much greater difference in the prevalence of disciform macula...

PURPOSE The irreversible loss of visual acuity in macular edema is usually attributed to permanent loss of photoreceptor cells, although there is hardly any information on changes in photoreceptor function in macular edema. The purpose of this study was to assess photoreceptor function in various stages of macular edema and to relate the findings to visual acuity and angiographic changes. MET...