Cell transplantation in age related macular degeneration: current concepts and future hopes

Excerpt

Age-related degeneration (AMD) is still the leading cause of untreatable new vision loss among older adults in the industrialized countries. The pathogenesis of AMD is currently unknown. One hypothesis places RPE dysfunction in the center of AMD pathogenesis. It was proposed that the inability of the RPE cells to remove the metabolic waste generated by the phagocytosis of the outer segments of the photoreceptors causes the accumulation of drusen. In parallel, RPE dysfunction causes the breakdown of the blood–retinal barrier and the leakage of plasma and proteins that leads to exudative retinal detachment in the extreme. The breaks in Bruch’s membrane under the detached RPE serve as an entrance for new and immature choroidal vessels into the subretinal space that cause hemorrhages and exudates which lead into the formation of fibrovascular membranes. …