Alzheimer’s Disease Seen through the Eye: Ocular Alterations and Neurodegeneration
Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is one of the main neurodegenerative diseases worldwide. Unfortunately, AD shares many similarities with other dementias at early stages, which impedes an accurate <i>premortem</i> diagnosis. Therefore, it is urgent to find biomarkers to allow for early diagnosis...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2022-02-01
|
| Series: | International Journal of Molecular Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/23/5/2486 |
| _version_ | 1797475027075989504 |
|---|---|
| author | Daniel Romaus-Sanjurjo Uxía Regueiro Maite López-López Laura Vázquez-Vázquez Alberto Ouro Isabel Lema Tomás Sobrino |
| author_facet | Daniel Romaus-Sanjurjo Uxía Regueiro Maite López-López Laura Vázquez-Vázquez Alberto Ouro Isabel Lema Tomás Sobrino |
| author_sort | Daniel Romaus-Sanjurjo |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is one of the main neurodegenerative diseases worldwide. Unfortunately, AD shares many similarities with other dementias at early stages, which impedes an accurate <i>premortem</i> diagnosis. Therefore, it is urgent to find biomarkers to allow for early diagnosis of the disease. There is increasing scientific evidence highlighting the similarities between the eye and other structures of the CNS, suggesting that knowledge acquired in eye research could be useful for research and diagnosis of AD. For example, the retina and optic nerve are considered part of the central nervous system, and their damage can result in retrograde and anterograde axon degeneration, as well as abnormal protein aggregation. In the anterior eye segment, the aqueous humor and tear film may be comparable to the cerebrospinal fluid. Both fluids are enriched with molecules that can be potential neurodegenerative biomarkers. Indeed, the pathophysiology of AD, characterized by cerebral deposits of amyloid-beta (Aβ) and tau protein, is also present in the eyes of AD patients, besides numerous structural and functional changes observed in the structure of the eyes. Therefore, all this evidence suggests that ocular changes have the potential to be used as either predictive values for AD assessment or as diagnostic tools. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T20:39:18Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c9489c3727e644cf913d5f2b80cfd8ce |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1661-6596 1422-0067 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T20:39:18Z |
| publishDate | 2022-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | International Journal of Molecular Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-c9489c3727e644cf913d5f2b80cfd8ce2023-11-23T23:04:49ZengMDPI AGInternational Journal of Molecular Sciences1661-65961422-00672022-02-01235248610.3390/ijms23052486Alzheimer’s Disease Seen through the Eye: Ocular Alterations and NeurodegenerationDaniel Romaus-Sanjurjo0Uxía Regueiro1Maite López-López2Laura Vázquez-Vázquez3Alberto Ouro4Isabel Lema5Tomás Sobrino6NeuroAging Group (NEURAL), Clinical Neurosciences Research Laboratory (LINC), Health Research Institute of Santiago de Compostela (IDIS), 15706 Santiago de Compostela, SpainCorneal Neurodegeneration Group (RENOIR), Clinical Neurosciences Research Laboratory (LINC), Health Research Institute of Santiago de Compostela (IDIS), 15706 Santiago de Compostela, SpainCorneal Neurodegeneration Group (RENOIR), Clinical Neurosciences Research Laboratory (LINC), Health Research Institute of Santiago de Compostela (IDIS), 15706 Santiago de Compostela, SpainNeuroAging Group (NEURAL), Clinical Neurosciences Research Laboratory (LINC), Health Research Institute of Santiago de Compostela (IDIS), 15706 Santiago de Compostela, SpainNeuroAging Group (NEURAL), Clinical Neurosciences Research Laboratory (LINC), Health Research Institute of Santiago de Compostela (IDIS), 15706 Santiago de Compostela, SpainCorneal Neurodegeneration Group (RENOIR), Clinical Neurosciences Research Laboratory (LINC), Health Research Institute of Santiago de Compostela (IDIS), 15706 Santiago de Compostela, SpainNeuroAging Group (NEURAL), Clinical Neurosciences Research Laboratory (LINC), Health Research Institute of Santiago de Compostela (IDIS), 15706 Santiago de Compostela, SpainAlzheimer’s Disease (AD) is one of the main neurodegenerative diseases worldwide. Unfortunately, AD shares many similarities with other dementias at early stages, which impedes an accurate <i>premortem</i> diagnosis. Therefore, it is urgent to find biomarkers to allow for early diagnosis of the disease. There is increasing scientific evidence highlighting the similarities between the eye and other structures of the CNS, suggesting that knowledge acquired in eye research could be useful for research and diagnosis of AD. For example, the retina and optic nerve are considered part of the central nervous system, and their damage can result in retrograde and anterograde axon degeneration, as well as abnormal protein aggregation. In the anterior eye segment, the aqueous humor and tear film may be comparable to the cerebrospinal fluid. Both fluids are enriched with molecules that can be potential neurodegenerative biomarkers. Indeed, the pathophysiology of AD, characterized by cerebral deposits of amyloid-beta (Aβ) and tau protein, is also present in the eyes of AD patients, besides numerous structural and functional changes observed in the structure of the eyes. Therefore, all this evidence suggests that ocular changes have the potential to be used as either predictive values for AD assessment or as diagnostic tools.https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/23/5/2486Alzheimer’s Diseaseamyloid burdenanterior segmentaqueous humorbiomarkerscornea |
| spellingShingle | Daniel Romaus-Sanjurjo Uxía Regueiro Maite López-López Laura Vázquez-Vázquez Alberto Ouro Isabel Lema Tomás Sobrino Alzheimer’s Disease Seen through the Eye: Ocular Alterations and Neurodegeneration International Journal of Molecular Sciences Alzheimer’s Disease amyloid burden anterior segment aqueous humor biomarkers cornea |
| title | Alzheimer’s Disease Seen through the Eye: Ocular Alterations and Neurodegeneration |
| title_full | Alzheimer’s Disease Seen through the Eye: Ocular Alterations and Neurodegeneration |
| title_fullStr | Alzheimer’s Disease Seen through the Eye: Ocular Alterations and Neurodegeneration |
| title_full_unstemmed | Alzheimer’s Disease Seen through the Eye: Ocular Alterations and Neurodegeneration |
| title_short | Alzheimer’s Disease Seen through the Eye: Ocular Alterations and Neurodegeneration |
| title_sort | alzheimer s disease seen through the eye ocular alterations and neurodegeneration |
| topic | Alzheimer’s Disease amyloid burden anterior segment aqueous humor biomarkers cornea |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/23/5/2486 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT danielromaussanjurjo alzheimersdiseaseseenthroughtheeyeocularalterationsandneurodegeneration AT uxiaregueiro alzheimersdiseaseseenthroughtheeyeocularalterationsandneurodegeneration AT maitelopezlopez alzheimersdiseaseseenthroughtheeyeocularalterationsandneurodegeneration AT lauravazquezvazquez alzheimersdiseaseseenthroughtheeyeocularalterationsandneurodegeneration AT albertoouro alzheimersdiseaseseenthroughtheeyeocularalterationsandneurodegeneration AT isabellema alzheimersdiseaseseenthroughtheeyeocularalterationsandneurodegeneration AT tomassobrino alzheimersdiseaseseenthroughtheeyeocularalterationsandneurodegeneration |