The Aged Retinal Pigment Epithelium/Choroid: A Potential Substratum for the Pathogenesis of Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Abstract

These phenotypic changes indicate that the RPE/choroid in the normal, old mouse has become an immunologically active tissue. There are signals from the normal, aged RPE/choroid which recruit leukocytes from the circulation and activate the complement cascade. These age-related changes that occur in the RPE/choroid with age, to the extent that they occur in the human retina, may provide the background for an error in regulation of immunological activity to cause AMD to appear in an elderly individual.