Abstract
Presentation Description :
Choriocapillaris (CC) viability is necessary for maintenance of healthy retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and photoreceptors. This lecture will discuss the loss of CC in AMD and diabetes. In AMD, CC is lost in geographic atrophy after RPE atrophy, presumably because CC looses its source of low level constitutive VEGF needed for CC maintenance. In neovascular AMD, CC dies before RPE are lost, perhaps making RPE hypoxic and increasing its production of VEGF, fueling CNV growth. The cause of CC death in neovascular AMD is not known but may be related to the membrane attack complex deposits around the CC or a limited blood supply due to dysfunctional intermediate and large choroidal blood vessels. In diabetes, CC death occurs in more peripheral choroid. Nonviable blood vessels are often associated with polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs). Increased PMN presence in CC may be related to increased intracellular adhesion molecule-1 in choroidal blood vessels. The role of inflammation in CC death in both diseases will be discussed.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2017 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Baltimore, MD, May 7-11, 2017.