Boulton M, Docchio F, Dayhaw-Barker P, Ramponi R, Cubeddu R
Department of Clinical Ophthalmology, Institute of Ophthalmology, London, U.K.
Vision Res. 1990;30(9):1291-303. doi: 10.1016/0042-6989(90)90003-4.
The morphological and spectral characteristics of purified populations of melanosomes and lipofuscin granules from the human retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) were studied with respect to donor age. All melanosome and lipofuscin fractions exhibited the typical ultrastructural appearance associated with these granules. Absorption profiles of both melanin and lipofuscin granules demonstrated an increased optical density of the granules with increasing age. The former was associated with an overall increase of melanin within the granules. Melanosomes were weakly fluorescent; emission in the blue decreased with increasing age while emission in the red increased. The fluorescent intensity of lipofuscin granules increased with age. These results provide support for the concept that melanogenesis is occurring within the human RPE throughout life and that pigment granules within the RPE undergo age-related modifications during life.
研究了来自人类视网膜色素上皮（RPE）的纯化黑素小体和脂褐素颗粒群体的形态和光谱特征与供体年龄的关系。所有黑素小体和脂褐素组分均呈现出与这些颗粒相关的典型超微结构外观。黑色素和脂褐素颗粒的吸收光谱表明，随着年龄增长，颗粒的光密度增加。前者与颗粒内黑色素的总体增加有关。黑素小体荧光较弱；蓝色发射随年龄增长而降低，而红色发射则增加。脂褐素颗粒的荧光强度随年龄增长而增加。这些结果支持了这样的概念，即人类RPE在整个生命过程中都在发生黑色素生成，并且RPE内的色素颗粒在生命过程中会经历与年龄相关的修饰。
