The avascular zone and neuronal remodeling of the fovea in Parkinson disease.
Inner foveal thinning and intracellular alpha-synuclein were demonstrated in the retina in Parkinson disease. While pathognomonic alpha-synuclein is associated with embryonic dopaminergic (DA) neurons, postmortem studies in the nervous system and retina show prominent effect also in non-DA neurons. We evaluated foveal capillaries and foveal thickness in 23 Parkinson disease subjects and 13 healthy controls using retinal fluorescein angiography and optical coherence tomography. The size of the foveal avascular zone inversely correlates with foveal thinning. Foveal thinning highly correlates with motor impairment and also disease duration. Quantifying capillary and neuronal remodeling could serve as biological markers.
Department of Neurology, SUNY Downstate Medical Center Brooklyn, New York, 11203.
Shahnaz
S
Miri
Department of Ophthalmology, SUNY Downstate Medical Center Brooklyn, New York, 11203 ; SUNY Eye Institute Brooklyn, New York.
Eric M
EM
Shrier
Department of Neurology, SUNY Downstate Medical Center Brooklyn, New York, 11203.
Sofya
S
Glazman
New York University New York City, New York.
Yin
Y
Ding
New York University New York City, New York.
Ivan
I
Selesnick
Neuromedlab Staten Island, NY, 10314 ; Touro College of the Osteopathic Medicine New York City, New York, 10027.
Piotr B
PB
Kozlowski
Department of Neurology, SUNY Downstate Medical Center Brooklyn, New York, 11203 ; Department of Ophthalmology, SUNY Downstate Medical Center Brooklyn, New York, 11203 ; SUNY Eye Institute Brooklyn, New York.
Ivan
I
Bodis-Wollner