Microglial changes in the retina and optic nerve of Parkinson's disease patients

• Published in: Acta ophthalmologica (Oxford, England) Vol. 102; no. S279
• Main Author: Sáez, Xavier Sánchez
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Malden Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.01.2024
• Subjects: Amacrine cells; Axons; Cell activation; Dopamine receptors; Immunohistochemistry; Lewy bodies; Microglia; Movement disorders; Neurodegeneration; Neurodegenerative diseases; Optic nerve; Parkinson's disease; Retina; Retinal degeneration; Retinal ganglion cells; Sensorimotor integration; Synuclein
• ISSN: 1755-375X; 1755-3768
• DOI: 10.1111/aos.16347

xsanchez@ua.es Patients that suffer from Parkinson disease (PD) also display non‐motor alterations. Among these non‐motor symptoms, there is clinical evidence of visual dysfunction in the pathology. Here, we will describe that there is retinal degeneration in these patients observed as a loss of retinal dopaminergic amacrine cells and intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells. Also, we describe in the ganglion cell layer the accumulation of phosphorylated alpha‐synuclein in axons and dendrites and the presence of Lewy bodies. Moreover, there is a degeneration of starburst amacrine cells, which are involved in motion direction selectivity. All these pathogenic processes are accompanied with an activation of microglia, which contribute to the retinal and optic nerve neurodegeneration providing a neuroinflammatory environment. By immunohistochemistry and bioinformatic analysis we have found that retinal and optic nerve microglia show morphological and protein expression profile changes in these patients. Taken together, these results demonstrate that in PD, microglia have a key role in the response to the retinal neurodegeneration.