Abstract
Presentation Description :
Inflammation is an adaptive response of the immune system to noxious insults to maintain homeostasis and restore functionality. The extent of immune response is in parallel with the level of tissue insult. Under chronic stress conditions such as aging or diabetes, tissues may suffer from a low-grade chronic oxidative insult, which sustains for decades and increases in level with advancing age/or disease. As a result, the immune system undergoes low levels of activation (para-inflammation) in order to maintain homeostasis and restore functionality. The presentation will discuss the basic principles of retinal immune responses to endogenous chronic insults, and the difference between beneficial para-inflammation and the detrimental chronic inflammation in the context of degenerative retinal diseases such as age-related macular degeneration.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.