Ganglion Cell Layer Thinning in Alzheimer’s Disease
Alicia López-de-Eguileta,
Andrea Cerveró,
Ainara Ruiz de Sabando,
Pascual Sánchez-Juan,
Alfonso Casado
Affiliations
Alicia López-de-Eguileta
Department of Ophthalmology, ‘Marqués de Valdecilla’ University Hospital, University of Cantabria, Institute for Research ‘Marqués de Valdecilla’ (IDIVAL), 39008 Santander, Spain
Andrea Cerveró
Department of Ophthalmology, ‘Marqués de Valdecilla’ University Hospital, University of Cantabria, Institute for Research ‘Marqués de Valdecilla’ (IDIVAL), 39008 Santander, Spain
Neurology Department and Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), ‘Marqués de Valdecilla’ University Hospital, University of Cantabria, Institute for Research ‘Marqués de Valdecilla’ (IDIVAL), 39008 Santander, Spain
Alfonso Casado
Department of Ophthalmology, ‘Marqués de Valdecilla’ University Hospital, University of Cantabria, Institute for Research ‘Marqués de Valdecilla’ (IDIVAL), 39008 Santander, Spain
The main advantages of optical retinal imaging may allow researchers to achieve deeper analysis of retinal ganglion cells (GC) in vivo using optical coherence tomography (OCT). Using this device to elucidate the impact of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) on retinal health with the aim to identify a new AD biomarker, a large amount of studies has analyzed GC in different stages of the disease. Our review highlights recent knowledge into measuring retinal morphology in AD making distinctive between whether those studies included patients with clinical dementia stage or also mild cognitive impairment (MCI), which selection criteria were applied to diagnosed patients included, and which device of OCT was employed. Despite several differences, previous works found a significant thinning of GC layer in patients with AD and MCI. In the long term, an important future direction is to achieve a specific ocular biomarker with enough sensitivity to reveal preclinical AD disorder and to monitor progression.
