Lipid-bloated subretinal microglial cells are at the origin of drusen appearance in CX3CR1-deficient mice.

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Raoul, William | Feumi, Charles | Keller, Nicole | Lavalette, Sophie | Houssier, Marianne | Behar-Cohen, Francine | Combadière, Christophe | Sennlaub, Florian

Edité par CCSD ; Karger -

International audience. Drusen, the white yellowish deposits that can be seen in funduscopy, are a hallmark of age-related macular degeneration. Histologically, drusen are believed to be dome-shaped or more confluent lipid accumulations between the retinal pigment epithelium and the choriocapillaries. Recent advances in mouse funduscopy have revealed the presence of drusen-like structures in chemokine knockout animals in the absence of sizeable dome-shaped material below the retinal pigment epithelium. We show that aged CX3CR1-/- mice present with drusen-like appearance in funduscopy that is associated with a progressive age-related microglial cell accumulation in the subretinal space. We demonstrate that the anatomical equivalent of the drusen-like appearance in these mice are lipid-bloated subretinal microglial cells rather than subretinal pigment epithelium deposits [Combadi? C, et al: J Clin Invest 2007;117:2920-2928].

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