Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Title
Biomedicines
Volume
9
Issue
6
Publisher
MDPI
School
Centre for Precision Health
RAS ID
38918
Funders
Funding information : https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines9060638
Abstract
A family history (FH+) of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and ɛ4 allele of the ApoE gene are the main genetic risk factors for developing AD, whereas ɛ4 allele plays a protective role in age-related macular degeneration. Ocular vascular changes have been reported in both pathologies. We analyzed the choroidal thickness using optical coherence tomography (OCT) and the foveal avascular zone (FAZ) using OCT-angiography and compared the results with ApoE gene expression, AD FH+, and the presence or absence of hard drusen (HD) in 184 cognitively healthy subjects. Choroidal thickness was statistically significantly different in the (FH−, ɛ4−, HD+) group compared with (i) both the (FH−, ɛ4−, HD−) and the (FH+, ɛ4+, HD+) groups in the superior and inferior points at 1500 μm, and (ii) the (FH+, ɛ4−, HD+) group in the superior point at 1500 μm. There were statistically significant differences in the superficial FAZ between the (FH+, ɛ4−, HD+) group and (i) the (FH+, ɛ4−, HD−) group and (ii) the (FH+, ɛ4+, HD−) group. In conclusion, ocular vascular changes are not yet evident in participants with a genetic risk of developing AD.
DOI
10.3390/biomedicines9060638
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Comments
López-Cuenca, I., de Hoz, R., Alcántara-Rey, C., Salobrar-García, E., Elvira-Hurtado, L., Fernández-Albarral, J. A., ... Ramírez, J. M. (2021).Foveal avascular zone and choroidal thickness are decreased in subjects with hard drusen and without high genetic risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Biomedicines, 9(6), article 638. https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines9060638