Aging of the retinal pigment epithelium

Abstract

The retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) plays a critical role in maintaining normal vision. It is a single layer of cuboidal cells that crucially mediates the transfer of nutrients, especially vitamin A moieties, from the underlying vasculature to the retina and waste material from the retina. It also plays a critical role in replenishing photoreceptor outer segments and recycling retinoids to photoreceptors. One of the most prominent signs of age is the accumulation of lipofuscin, a fluorescent material that accumulates within lysosomes. In addition, age affects the engulfment and degradation of photoreceptor outer segments and modifies autophagy and noncanonical forms of photoreceptor outer s..