Alzheimer’s Disease Seen through the Eye: Ocular Alterations and Neurodegeneration

International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Uxía Regueiro¹  Maite López-López¹  Isabel Lema¹  Laura Vázquez-Vázquez²  Daniel Romaus-Sanjurjo²  Alberto Ouro²  Tomás Sobrino² 

[1] Corneal Neurodegeneration Group (RENOIR), Clinical Neurosciences Research Laboratory (LINC), Health Research Institute of Santiago de Compostela (IDIS), 15706 Santiago de Compostela, Spain;NeuroAging Group (NEURAL), Clinical Neurosciences Research Laboratory (LINC), Health Research Institute of Santiago de Compostela (IDIS), 15706 Santiago de Compostela, Spain;

关键词: Alzheimer’s Disease;    amyloid burden;    anterior segment;    aqueous humor;    biomarkers;    cornea;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijms23052486

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is one of the main neurodegenerative diseases worldwide. Unfortunately, AD shares many similarities with other dementias at early stages, which impedes an accurate premortem diagnosis. Therefore, it is urgent to find biomarkers to allow for early diagnosis of the disease. There is increasing scientific evidence highlighting the similarities between the eye and other structures of the CNS, suggesting that knowledge acquired in eye research could be useful for research and diagnosis of AD. For example, the retina and optic nerve are considered part of the central nervous system, and their damage can result in retrograde and anterograde axon degeneration, as well as abnormal protein aggregation. In the anterior eye segment, the aqueous humor and tear film may be comparable to the cerebrospinal fluid. Both fluids are enriched with molecules that can be potential neurodegenerative biomarkers. Indeed, the pathophysiology of AD, characterized by cerebral deposits of amyloid-beta (Aβ) and tau protein, is also present in the eyes of AD patients, besides numerous structural and functional changes observed in the structure of the eyes. Therefore, all this evidence suggests that ocular changes have the potential to be used as either predictive values for AD assessment or as diagnostic tools.

【 授权许可】

Unknown