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Animal Models for Age-Related Macular Degeneration

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Animal Models for Retinal Diseases

Part of the book series: Neuromethods ((NM,volume 46))

Abstract

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) has a number of characteristic features including late onset and accumulation of deposits (drusen) below the retinal pigment epithelium on Bruch’s membrane in the macula. A progressive increase in these deposits (in some individuals) leads to macular blindness, following either the local loss of the retinal pigment epithelium (geographic atrophy) or the hemorrhage of new blood vessels that originate in the choroid and invade the compartment between the photoreceptors and retinal pigment epithelium (choroidal neovascularization). Over the last few years a number of mouse models for AMD have been described that replicate some of the changes manifest in the human disease. This chapter begins with a description of the hallmarks of AMD, discusses some of the ideas about the underlying mechanisms and then summarizes the features of AMD found in experimental animals that are purported to model this disorder.

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Acknowledgment

The authors research is supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, National Eye Institute, Bethesda, MD; the State of Ohio, BRTT Program, Columbus, OH; the Foundation Fighting Blindness, Owings Mills, MD; and Research to Prevent Blindness, New York, NY. We thank Mary E. Rayborn for help with editing the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, Cole Eye Institute, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA

    Joe G. Hollyfield & Lisa Kuttner-Kondo

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  1. Joe G. Hollyfield
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  2. Lisa Kuttner-Kondo
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Correspondence to Joe G. Hollyfield .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Alcon Research Ltd., S. Freeway 6201, Forth Worth, 76134, U.S.A.

    Iok-Hou Pang

  2. Health Science Center, University of North Texas, Camp Bowie Blvd. 500, Fort Worth, 76107, U.S.A.

    Abbot F. Clark

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Hollyfield, J.G., Kuttner-Kondo, L. (2010). Animal Models for Age-Related Macular Degeneration. In: Pang, IH., Clark, A. (eds) Animal Models for Retinal Diseases. Neuromethods, vol 46. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60761-541-5_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60761-541-5_5

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