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Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences

Rod-Specific Downregulation Of Omega-3 Very-Long-Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Pathway In Age-Related Macular Degeneration, William C. Gordon, Marie Audrey I. Kautzmann, Bokkyoo Jun, Megan L. Cothern, Zhide Fang, Nicolas G. Bazan Sep 2023

Rod-Specific Downregulation Of Omega-3 Very-Long-Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Pathway In Age-Related Macular Degeneration, William C. Gordon, Marie Audrey I. Kautzmann, Bokkyoo Jun, Megan L. Cothern, Zhide Fang, Nicolas G. Bazan

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA; 22:6) plays a key role in vision and is the precursor for very-long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (VLC-PUFAs). The release of 32- and 34-carbon VLC-PUFAs and DHA from sn-1 and sn-2 of phosphatidylcholine (PC) leads to the synthesis of cell-survival mediators, the elovanoids (ELVs) and neuroprotectin D1 (NPD1), respectively. Macula and periphery from age-related macular degeneration (AMD) donor retinas were assessed for the availability of DHA-related lipids by LC-MS/MS-based lipidomic analysis and MALDI-molecular imaging. We found reduced retina DHA and VLC-PUFA pathways to synthesize omega-3 ELVs from precursors that likely resulted in altered disks and photoreceptor loss. Additionally, …


Characterization Of Retinal Drusen In Subjects At High Genetic Risk Of Developing Sporadic Alzheimer’S Disease: An Exploratory Analysis, Inés López-Cuenca, Elena Salobrar-García, Inés Gil-Salgado, Lidia Sánchez-Puebla, Lorena Elvira-Hurtado, José A. Fernández-Albarral, Federico Ramírez-Toraño, Ana Barabash, Jaisalmer De Frutos-Lucas, Juan J. Salazar, José M. Ramírez, Ana I. Ramírez, Rosa De Hoz May 2022

Characterization Of Retinal Drusen In Subjects At High Genetic Risk Of Developing Sporadic Alzheimer’S Disease: An Exploratory Analysis, Inés López-Cuenca, Elena Salobrar-García, Inés Gil-Salgado, Lidia Sánchez-Puebla, Lorena Elvira-Hurtado, José A. Fernández-Albarral, Federico Ramírez-Toraño, Ana Barabash, Jaisalmer De Frutos-Lucas, Juan J. Salazar, José M. Ramírez, Ana I. Ramírez, Rosa De Hoz

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Having a family history (FH+) of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and being a carrier of at least one ε4 allele of the ApoE gene are two of the main risk factors for the development of AD. AD and age-related macular degeneration (AMD) share one of the main risk factors, such as age, and characteristics including the presence of deposits (Aβ plaques in AD and drusen in AMD); however, the role of apolipoprotein E isoforms in both pathologies is controversial. We analyzed and characterized retinal drusen by optical coherence tomography (OCT) in subjects, classifying them by their AD FH (FH-or FH+) and …


Anti-Retinal Igg Antibodies In Patients With Early And Advanced Type 2 Macular Telangiectasia, Samuel Mclenachan, Chandrakumar Balaratnasingam, Rachael C. Heath Jeffery, Shang Chih Chen, Dan Zhang, Geoffrey Chan, Rosa Dolz-Marco, Tommaso Bacci, Johnny Lo, Steven Wiffen, Lawrence A. Yannuzzi, Fred K. Chen May 2022

Anti-Retinal Igg Antibodies In Patients With Early And Advanced Type 2 Macular Telangiectasia, Samuel Mclenachan, Chandrakumar Balaratnasingam, Rachael C. Heath Jeffery, Shang Chih Chen, Dan Zhang, Geoffrey Chan, Rosa Dolz-Marco, Tommaso Bacci, Johnny Lo, Steven Wiffen, Lawrence A. Yannuzzi, Fred K. Chen

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Type 2 idiopathic macular telangiectasia (MacTel-2) is a progressive adult-onset macular disease associated with bilateral perifoveal vascular changes, Muller cell degeneration and increased blood-retinal barrier permeability. The pathophysiological mechanisms of MacTel-2 remain unclear, however it was previously reported that anti-retinal antibodies in MacTel-2 patients are a significant feature of the disease. In this study, we aimed to compare the prevalence of anti-retinal antibodies in patients MacTel-2, healthy controls and patients with other retinal diseases. MacTel-2 patients diagnosed with multimodal imaging were enrolled and their disease severities were graded using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography. For comparison, patients with age-related macular degeneration …


Foveal Avascular Zone And Choroidal Thickness Are Decreased In Subjects With Hard Drusen And Without High Genetic Risk Of Developing Alzheimer’S Disease, Inés López-Cuenca, Rosa De Hoz, Celia Alcantara-Rey, Elena Salobrar-García, Lorena Elvira-Hurtado, José A. Fernández-Albarral, Ana Barabash, Federico Ramírez-Toraño, Jaisalmer De Frutos-Lucas, Juan J. Salazar, Ana I. Ramírez, José M. Ramírez Jan 2021

Foveal Avascular Zone And Choroidal Thickness Are Decreased In Subjects With Hard Drusen And Without High Genetic Risk Of Developing Alzheimer’S Disease, Inés López-Cuenca, Rosa De Hoz, Celia Alcantara-Rey, Elena Salobrar-García, Lorena Elvira-Hurtado, José A. Fernández-Albarral, Ana Barabash, Federico Ramírez-Toraño, Jaisalmer De Frutos-Lucas, Juan J. Salazar, Ana I. Ramírez, José M. Ramírez

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

A family history (FH+) of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and ɛ4 allele of the ApoE gene are the main genetic risk factors for developing AD, whereas ɛ4 allele plays a protective role in age-related macular degeneration. Ocular vascular changes have been reported in both pathologies. We analyzed the choroidal thickness using optical coherence tomography (OCT) and the foveal avascular zone (FAZ) using OCT-angiography and compared the results with ApoE gene expression, AD FH+, and the presence or absence of hard drusen (HD) in 184 cognitively healthy subjects. Choroidal thickness was statistically significantly different in the (FH−, ɛ4−, HD+) group compared with …


Electro-Chemotactic Fields Induce Cooperative Movement Of Cns Cells, Shawn Mishra, Stephen Redenti, Maribel Vazquez Oct 2016

Electro-Chemotactic Fields Induce Cooperative Movement Of Cns Cells, Shawn Mishra, Stephen Redenti, Maribel Vazquez

Publications and Research

Vision loss in adults with Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is attributed to damage of retinal photoreceptor cells that initiate vision by absorbing light. Mouse models have suggested that transplantation of precursor cells may be a novel approach to restore vision. This project uses a combination of electrotactic and chemotactic stimuli to promote and guide CNS cell migration within a microdevice model.


Primordium Of An Artificial Bruch's Membrane Made Of Nanofibers For Engineering Of Retinal Pigment Epithelium Cell Monolayers, Patrick Warnke, Mohammad Alamein, Stuart Skabo, Sebastien Stephens, Robert Bourke, Peter Heiner, Qin Liu Dec 2013

Primordium Of An Artificial Bruch's Membrane Made Of Nanofibers For Engineering Of Retinal Pigment Epithelium Cell Monolayers, Patrick Warnke, Mohammad Alamein, Stuart Skabo, Sebastien Stephens, Robert Bourke, Peter Heiner, Qin Liu

Qin Liu

Transplanted Retinal Pigment Epithelium(RPE) cells hold promise for treatment of Age-related Macular Degeneration(AMD) and Stargardt Disease(SD), but it is conceivable that the degenerated host Bruch's membrane(BM) as a natural substrate for RPE might not optimally support transplanted cell survival with correct cellular organization. We fabricated novel ultrathin 3-dimensional(3D) nanofibrous membranes from Collagen type I and poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) by an advanced clinical-grade needle-free-electrospinning process. The nanofibrillar 3D networks highly mimicked the fibrillar architecture of the native inner collagenous layer of human BM. Human RPE cells grown on our nanofibrous membranes bore striking resemblance to native human RPE. They exhibited a …