Feeney-Burns L, Hilderbrand E S, Eldridge S
Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 1984 Feb;25(2):195-200.
Retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) of 50 human eyes, five from each 10 decades of life, were analyzed using ultrastructural morphometric techniques. Content of three types of pigments, lipofuscin, melanin, and complex granules, (melanolipofuscin, melanolysosomes) were recorded for cells from macular, equatorial, and peripheral retinal specimens. Areas occupied by pigments, nucleus, and cytoplasmic space were calculated. Data were analyzed by a computer for age-related changes and effects of fixation delay time. The largest increase in lipofuscin granules occurred between the first and second decade of life, and further increases occurred with age. The content of "pure" melanin declined with age, whereas the number of complex melanin granules increased. Macular RPE contained more complex granules than nonmacular RPE, particularly in young eyes. The volume of RPE cytoplasm not occupied by pigments ("free space") decreased with age. No significant effects of fixation delays between 2 and 9 hours postmortem were found on the parameters studied here. These findings may serve as a baseline for estimating normalcy of human RPE specimens.
利用超微结构形态计量学技术，对50只人眼的视网膜色素上皮（RPE）进行了分析，这些眼睛来自每10个年龄段中的5只。记录了黄斑、赤道和周边视网膜标本中细胞的三种色素（脂褐素、黑色素和复合颗粒，即黑素脂褐素、黑素溶酶体）的含量。计算了色素、细胞核和细胞质空间所占的面积。通过计算机分析数据，以研究与年龄相关的变化以及固定延迟时间的影响。脂褐素颗粒在生命的第一个和第二个十年间增加最多，并且随着年龄的增长进一步增加。“纯”黑色素的含量随年龄下降，而复合黑色素颗粒的数量增加。黄斑RPE比非黄斑RPE含有更多的复合颗粒，尤其是在年轻的眼睛中。未被色素占据的RPE细胞质体积（“自由空间”）随年龄减小。在死后2至9小时之间的固定延迟对这里研究的参数没有显著影响。这些发现可作为评估人类RPE标本正常情况的基线。
