title: Imaging of cellular aging in human retinal blood vessels.
abstract: To date two main aging vascular lesions have been reported in elderly human retinas: acellular capillaries and microaneurysms. However, their exact mechanism of formation remains unclear. Using high resolution microscopy techniques we revise cellular alterations observed in aged human retinal vessels, such as lipofuscin accumulation, caveolae malfunction, blood basement membrane disruption and enhanced apoptosis that could trigger the development of these aging vascular lesions. Moreover, we have generated a set of original images comparing retinal vasculature between middle and old aged healthy humans to show in a comprehensive manner the main structural and ultrastructural alterations occurred during age in retinal blood vessels.
authors.affiliation: Center of Animal Biotechnology and Gene Therapy, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain; Department of Animal Health and Anatomy, School of Veterinary Medicine, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Catita
authors.affiliation: Center of Animal Biotechnology and Gene Therapy, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain; Department of Animal Health and Anatomy, School of Veterinary Medicine, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain; Interdisciplinary Centre of Research in Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: López-Luppo
authors.affiliation: Center of Animal Biotechnology and Gene Therapy, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain; Department of Animal Health and Anatomy, School of Veterinary Medicine, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ramos
authors.affiliation: Center of Animal Biotechnology and Gene Therapy, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain; Department of Animal Health and Anatomy, School of Veterinary Medicine, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain; Interdisciplinary Centre of Research in Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Nacher
authors.affiliation: Center of Animal Biotechnology and Gene Therapy, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain; Department of Animal Health and Anatomy, School of Veterinary Medicine, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain; Interdisciplinary Centre of Research in Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Navarro
authors.affiliation: Center of Animal Biotechnology and Gene Therapy, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain; Department of Animal Health and Anatomy, School of Veterinary Medicine, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain; Interdisciplinary Centre of Research in Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carretero
authors.affiliation: Microscopy Facility, Faculty of Science, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Chardi
authors.affiliation: Center of Animal Biotechnology and Gene Therapy, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain; Interdisciplinary Centre of Research in Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal; Department of Morphology and Function, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mendes-Jorge
authors.affiliation: Department of Morphological Sciences, School of Medicine, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rodriguez-Baeza
authors.affiliation: Center of Animal Biotechnology and Gene Therapy, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain; Department of Animal Health and Anatomy, School of Veterinary Medicine, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain; Interdisciplinary Centre of Research in Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal; CIBER de Diabetes y Enfermedades Metabólicas Asociadas (CIBERDEM), Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: jesus.ruberte@uab.es.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ruberte
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000473:pathology*; D000783:Aneurysm / Q000473:pathology; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000502:physiology; D001485:Basement Membrane / Q000473:pathology; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D002196:Capillaries / Q000473:pathology; D021941:Caveolae / Q000648:ultrastructure; D016922:Cellular Senescence; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008062:Lipofuscin / Q000032:analysis; D008297:Male; D017628:Microglia / Q000502:physiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D012171:Retinal Vessels / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology* / Q000648:ultrastructure
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D008062:Lipofuscin
keywords: Acellular capillaries; Aging; Cellular senescence; Lipofuscin accumulation; Microaneurysms