QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF AGING PRIMATE RETINA

视觉研究的一个主要问题是人类的视觉表现如何 受到神经组织结构的限制， 了 我们的目标是建立一个可靠的和内部一致的 用于比较人体解剖结构的解剖数据库 光感受器（PR）镶嵌对视觉功能的影响。 在这个建议中，我们继续确定年龄在多大程度上- 视觉功能的相关下降可以通过PR的丧失来解释。 和视网膜中的神经节细胞（GC）。 我们用未染色的视网膜 整体安装和计算机辅助形态测量来表征 视锥、视杆、GC的空间密度和GC的大小谱 70岁以上供体眼的胞体。 我们还将利用这些 技术来研究少数老年人的眼睛， 有充分证据的视觉功能。 关于这些细胞类型的数据可以 作为年龄相关性黄斑病变的其他研究的基线 和青光眼，老年人的主要致盲疾病。 我们还建议扩大我们的工作的空间分布， 在年轻的视网膜锥更详细的表征 采样、敏感性和 人类视锥镶嵌图的连接特性。 我们将使用 基于Voronoi的空间统计和快速傅立叶方法， 分析作为偏心率函数的锥形填料几何形状。 我们 将研究蓝色锥体的空间分布， 人视网膜使用最近开发的抗体特异性的 蓝锥视蛋白 视锥细胞有效收集光线的能力， 部分由内节和外节形态决定。 我们 计划使用计算机重建来量化这种形态， 通过长轴的光学截面的图形显示 克隆 最后，我们将研究锥-锥的模式 通过注射一片 在体外制备相邻的视锥细胞， 圆锥端枝的连接模式。 我们还将确定视野投影到 通过考虑中央凹GC的横向偏移来测量人GC层。 我们先前收集的GC空间密度数据可以 以作为偏心率的函数的单元/deg 2表示 在视觉等级上。 这些数据可以与 在同一只眼睛中的视锥细胞分布和已发表的估计值 人类大脑皮层放大系数。

A major question is vision research is how human visual performance is limited by the architecture of the neural tissue which subserves it. Our goal is to establish a reliable and internally consistent anatomical database for comparing the anatomy of the human photoreceptor (PR) mosaic to visual function. In this proposal we continue to determine the extent to which age- related declines in visual function can be explained by loss of PR and ganglion cells (GC) in the retina. We use an unstained retinal whole mount and computer-assisted morphometry to characterize the spatial density of cones, rods, GC, and the size spectrum of GC somata in donor eyes over 70 years of age. We will also use these techniques to study a small number of eyes from elderly person with well documented visual function. Data on these cell types can serve as a base line for other studies of age-related maculopathy and glaucoma, major blinding disease of the elderly. We also propose to extend our work on the spatial distribution of cones in young retina to more detailed characterization of morphological substrates underlying sampling, sensitivity, and connectivity properties of the human cone mosaic. We will use Voronoi-based spatial statistics and Fast Fourier methods to analyze cone packing geometry as a function of eccentricity. We will investigate the spatial distribution of blue cones in the human retina using a recently developed antibody specific to the blue cone opsin. The ability of cones to gather light efficiently, is determined partly by inner and outer segment morphology. We plan to quantify this morphology using computer reconstruction and graphic display of optical sections through the long axis of clones. Finally, we will investigate the pattern of cone-cone connectivity in the peripheral retina by injecting a patch of adjacent cones in an in vitro preparation and examining the patterns of connections made by cone telodendria. We will also determine the projection of visual field onto the human GC layer by accounting for the lateral offset of foveal GC. Our previously collected data on the spatial density of GC can then be expressed in terms of cells/deg2 as a function of eccentricity in visual degrees. These data can be compared with the distribution of cones in the same eyes and with published estimates of the human cortical magnification factor.