Journal
INVESTIGATIVE OPHTHALMOLOGY & VISUAL SCIENCE
Volume 61, Issue 8, Pages -Publisher
ASSOC RESEARCH VISION OPHTHALMOLOGY INC
DOI: 10.1167/iovs.61.8.16
Keywords
autofluorescence; fundus autofluorescence; lipofuscin; primate; macaque; rhesus macaque; maculopathy; age-related macular degeneration; AMD
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Funding
- California National Primate Research Center [NIH P510D011107]
- NIH [K08 EY026101, R21 EY031108, K08 EY027463, U24 EY029904, R01 EY016134, U01 ES027288]
- E. Matilda Ziegler Foundation for the Blind
- Barr Foundation for Retinal Research
- ARVO Foundation
- Macula Society
- Fight for Sight [SS-19-001]
- Unrestricted Research to Prevent Blindness
- National Institutes of Health Core Grant [P30EY005722]
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PURPOSE. To employ quantitative fundus autofluorescence (qAF) imaging in rhesus macaques to noninvasively assess retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) lipofuscin in nonhuman primates (NHPs) as a model of aging and age-related macular degeneration (AMD). METHODS. The qAF imaging was performed on eyes of 26 rhesus macaques (mean age 18.8 +/- 8.2 years, range 4-27 years) with normal-appearing fundus or with age-related soft drusen using a confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope with 488 nm excitation and an internal fluorescence reference. Eyes with soft drusen also underwent spectraldomain optical coherence tomography imaging to measure drusen volume and height of individual drusen lesions. The qAF levels were measured from the perifoveal annular ring (quantitative autofluorescence 8 [qAF8]) using the Delori grid, as well as focally over individual drusen lesions in this region. The association between qAF levels and age, sex, and drusen presence and volume were determined using multivariable regression analysis. RESULTS. Mean qAF levels increased with age (P < 0.001) and were higher in females (P = 0.047). Eyes with soft drusen exhibited reduced mean qAF compared with agematched normal eyes (P = 0.003), with greater drusen volume showing a trend toward decreased qAF levels. However, qAF levels are focally increased over most individual drusen (P < 0.001), with larger drusen appearing more hyperautofluorescent (R-2 = 0.391, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS. In rhesus macaques, qAF levels are increased with age and female sex, but decreased in eyes with soft drusen, similar to human AMD. However, drusen lesions appear hyperautofluorescent unlike those in humans, suggesting similarities and differences in RPE lipofuscin between humans and NHPs that may provide insight into drusen biogenesis and AMD pathogenesis.
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