依存症研究と治療ジャーナル

抽象的な

Alzheimer's Disease-Related Amyloidopathy in Visual Impairment

Can Zhang

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a devastating neurodegenerative disease and the primary cause of dementia, with no cure available. The pathogenesis of AD is believed to be primarily driven by the accumulation of Aβ, a 4-kDa peptide generated from the amyloid-β precursor protein (APP) through proteolysis. APP is a type-I trans-membrane protein which is constitutively expressed in many tissues, including the eye. Emerging evidence support that visual impairment and several common eye disorders may share common pathogenic determinants with AD. Over the past decade, an increasing number of researches have been utilizing mouse models to investigate the underlying mechanisms of human disorders. Intriguingly, AD animal models present devastating amyloidopathy not only in the brain but also in the eye. This article aims to describe the progress in understanding the pathophysiology and pathogenesis of AD, focusing on the amyloidopathy in visual impairment. Moreover, the studies described in this review support the potential use of non-invasive ocular tests for screening AD patients at an earlier stage and for assessing treatment efficacy of AD.