Structural and functional impairment of the retina and optic nerve in Alzheimer's disease.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the macular and retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness, and the electrical activity of the macula in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD).


METHODS
30 patients with AD and 30 age and sex matched healthy controls were studied. The thickness and the electrical activity of the macula were evaluated by means of optical coherence tomography (OCT) and multifocal-electroretinogram (mf-ERG).


RESULTS
Visual acuity, as well as visual fields and colour vision testing of all patients were normal. However, the mean foveal thickness was 148.50 μm (vs. 171.50 μm in the control group, p=0.001) and the RNFL thickness was 104.5 μm in the superior area (vs 123 μm in the control group, p < 0.0001) and 116.5 μm in the inferior area (vs. 138 μm in the control group, p < 0.0001) around the optic nerve. The mean P1 response density amplitude of the foveal area was 146.50 nV/deg2 (vs. 293 nV/deg2 in the control group, p < 0.0001) and the perifoveal area was 56.60 nV/deg2 (vs. 81.50 nv/deg2 in the control group, p < 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
Our study showed that in patients with AD, even without visual failure there was a decrease in macular and RNFL thickness, as well as a decrease of the electrical activity of the macula.
Laboratory of Electrophysiology, 1st Department of Ophthalmology, University of Athens, Athens, Greece. moschosmarilita@yahoo.fr
Marilita M
MM
Moschos
Ioannis
I
Markopoulos
Irini
I
Chatziralli
Alexandros
A
Rouvas
Sokratis G
SG
Papageorgiou
Ioannis
I
Ladas
Dimitrios
D
Vassilopoulos
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004596:Electroretinography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009900:Optic Nerve / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012160:Retina / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012165:Retinal Ganglion Cells / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology