Martin Rudolf

Purpose: Multiple evidence lines support Bruch's membrane lipid deposition as a major precursor of soft drusen and age-related macular degeneration as including a potentially treatable atherosclerosis-like progression in the subretinal pigment epithelium (RPE)-basal lamina space. We evaluated the effect of anti-inflammatory, antiatherogenic peptid...

Purpose To evaluate the impact of correct anatomical slab segmentation on foveal avascular zone (FAZ) dimensions in the superficial capillary plexus (SCP) and deep capillary plexus (DCP) using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA). Methods Participants with healthy retinas were recruited, and 5 × 5 mm OCTA images were acquired using the...

Background: The geographic atrophy (GA) junctional zone includes changes in retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and Bruch's membrane complex that are still difficult to interpret even with clinical high-resolution imaging technologies. We measured and evaluated degenerative RPE cell changes in histological sections of GA eyes. Methods: In this stud...

Purpose: Accumulation of lipoprotein-derived lipids including esterified and unesterified cholesterol in Bruch’s membrane of human eyes is a major age-related change involved in initiating and sustaining soft drusen in age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The apolipoprotein (apo) A-I mimetic peptide 4F is a small anti-inflammatory and anti-ather...

Zusammenfassung Hintergrund Die stereotaktische Radiotherapie (SRT) ist ein neues adjuvantes Verfahren zu den bisherigen intravitrealen operativen Medikamentengaben (IVOM) bei exsudativer altersbedingter Makuladegeneration (AMD). Ziel unserer Studie war es, die Faktoren zu untersuchen, welche die Zufriedenheit der Patienten 1 Jahr nach Behandlung b...

Introduction: Cutaneous melanoma (CM) is an aggressive skin cancer entity, causing most skin cancer-related deaths. Autoimmune disorders have been described as potential paraneoplastic complications. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the possibility of a combinatory paraneoplastic affection of the retina and cochlea in patients with CM....

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) secreted by the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) plays an important role in ocular homeostasis, but also in diseases, most notably age-related macular degeneration (AMD). To date, anti-VEGF drugs like ranibizumab have been shown to be most effective in treating these pathologic conditions. However, clinical...

Background/aims: VEGF-A is induced by oxidative stress, and functions as a survival factor for various cell types, including retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells. Anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) drugs like aflibercept and bevacizumab have shown to be most effective in treating neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD), ho...

Purpose: To investigate the effects of Bruch's membrane (BrM) neutral lipid deposition in mouse models and its significance to aging and age-related macular degeneration, it is essential to reliably detect small quantities of neutral lipids including esterified cholesterol (EC). In chorioretinal sections and BrM wholemounts, we tested a novel fluo...

Drusen, the pathognomonic lesion of age-related macular degeneration, are dynamic and undergo both growth and regression. Using histochemistry to localise esterified cholesterol (EC), we investigated small drusen to discover signs of dynamism. Flat mounts of Bruch's membrane were prepared from peripheral retinas of six donor eyes without chorioreti...

Background: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness in the industrialized world. Recently, the anti-VEGF strategy revolutionized the treatment of the exudative ‘wet’ form of the disease and improved therapeutic outcomes. However, the current strategy does not treat the causative and even more common neurodegenerativ...

This invention provides novel active agents (e.g. peptides, small organic molecules, amino acid pairs, etc.) peptides that ameliorate one or more symptoms of eye disease and/or other pathologies characterized by an inflammatory response. In certain embodiment, the peptides resemble a G* amphipathic helix of apolipoprotein J. The agents are highly s...

Purpose: Lipofuscin contained in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) is the main source of fundus autofluorescence (FAF), the target of an imaging method useful for estimating the progression of geographic atrophy (GA) in clinical trials. To establish a cellular basis for hyperfluorescent GA border zones, histologic autofluorescence (HAF) was mea...

Ageing is the largest risk factor for age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and soft drusen and basal linear deposits are lipid-rich extracellular lesions specific to AMD. Oil red O binding neutral lipid represents a major age-related deposition in the Bruch membrane (BrM) and the first identified druse component. Decades after these seminal obse...

The largest risk factor for age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) is advanced age. A prominent age-related change in the human retina is the accumulation of histochemically detectable neutral lipid in normal Bruch's membrane (BrM) throughout adulthood. This change has the potential to have a major impact on physiology of the retinal pigment epith...

The largest risk factor for age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) is advanced age. With aging, there is a striking accumulation of neutral lipids in Bruch's membrane (BrM) of normal eye that continues through adulthood. This accumulation has the potential to significantly impact the physiology of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). It also ulti...

Aging is the major risk factor for age-related maculopathy (ARM), the biggest cause of vision loss among the elderly in industrialized societies, and a major change in the affected tissues is the age-related accumulation of neutral lipid in Bruch's membrane (BrM) of the eye throughout adulthood. Here we show that esterified cholesterol (EC) is the...

Accumulation of neutral lipids in Bruch's membrane (BrM) is a major age change in human retina and contributes to the formation of extracellular lesions associated with age-related macular degeneration. We developed a BrM-choroid wholemounting technique suitable for reliable staining and evaluated different fluorescent lipid dyes for topographic se...

Age-related macular degeneration is the leading cause of blindness, with an increasing incidence as the elderly population expands. In this article we review current therapeutic strategies and discuss possible future targets. A review of the literature and ongoing clinical trials was undertaken. Currently, established therapies for neovascular AMD-...

Throughout adulthood, Bruch membrane (BrM) accumulates esterified cholesterol (EC) associated with abundant 60- to 80-nm-diameter lipoprotein-like particles (LLP), putative apolipoprotein B (apoB) lipoproteins secreted by the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). In the present study, neutral lipid, phospholipids, and retinoid components of human BrM-L...

We demonstrate histologically sub-retinal drusenoid debris in three aged human eyes, two of them affected by age-related maculopathy. By postmortem fundus examination, the lesions were drusen-like, i.e., they were pale spots apparently at the level of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). Light and electron microscopy revealed aggregations of membr...

Macular drusen are hallmarks of age-related maculopathy (ARM), but these focal extracellular lesions also appear with age in the peripheral retina. The present study was conducted to determine regional differences in morphology that contribute to the higher vulnerability of the macula to advanced disease. Drusen from the macula (n = 133) and periph...

To evaluate ultrastructural changes in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor knockout (R(-/-)) mice consuming different diets as a potential model of Bruch membrane (BM) lipoidal degeneration and to determine the distribution and concentration of VEGF(164) in this mouse model. Eight-month-old LDL-R(-/-) mice and wild-type controls were fed a stand...

More details about the distribution of esterified and unesterified cholesterol (EC, UC), abundant druse components, would inform models of druse biogenesis and new technologies for ocular imaging. From donors with grossly normal maculas (n=10, 66-86years), whose eyes were preserved in paraformaldehyde within 6h of death, extra-macular drusen encase...

To determine whether the temperature-sensitive rat retinal pigment epithelial cell line (RPE-J) express mRNA transcripts for apolipoprotein(apo) and microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTP) and whether it can synthesize and secrete neutral lipids. RPE-J cells were cultured in plastic tissue culture flasks and on Transwell filters. RT-PCR was...

Selective Retina Therapy (SRT) is a new laser treatment that selectively targets the retinal pigmen epithelium (RPE). In this study, we treated 39 patients presenting with nonischemic, focal and focal-diffuse diabetic maculopathy with SRT. In the main. the results indicate that SRT had stabilizing effects on visual acuity, angiographic leakage, lip...

To report intra-and postoperative complications in pars plana vitrectomy, phacoemulsification and intraocular lens implantation. A comparison of the combined versus two step surgical approach is given. Medical records and operative notes of 111 eyes with combined surgery and 50 eyes with sequential surgery were retrospectively analysed. Subgroup an...

Die selektive Retina-Therapie (SRT) ist ein neues Laserverfahren zur selektiven Behandlung des retinalen Pigmentepithels (RPE). In dieser Studie wurden 39Patienten mit einer nichtischmischen, fokalen und fokal-diffusen diabetischen Makulopathie mit SRT behandelt. Es zeigten sich v.a. stabilisierende Effekte auf Visus, angiographische Leckageaktivit...

To investigate the pathogenesis of age related macular degeneration (ARM) with respect to lipid accumulation within Bruch's membrane (BrM) in a knockout model with low density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor deficiency. LDL receptor deficient mice and C57BL/6 controls were fed a standard diet or a high fat (HF) diet. Plasma total cholesterol (pTC) was d...

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of photodynamic therapy (PDT) on the regulation of angiogenic factors such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and pigment epithelium derived factor (PEDF) in human eyes. Eyes of patients with untreatable malignancy served as the study eyes (n = 2), age-matched donor eyes were used as co...

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of photodynamic therapy (PDT) on the regulation of angiogenic factors such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and pigment epithelium derived factor (PEDF) in human eyes. Methods: Eyes of patients with untreatable malignancy served as the study eyes (n = 2), age-matched donor...

Atherosclerosis is a suspected risk factor for the development of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD). We used a well-established murine knockout model with low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor deficiency for atherosclerotic vascular pathogenesis to evaluate changes in Bruch's membrane due to high cholesterol levels. Blood choleste...

Background Atherosclerosis is a suspected risk factor for the development of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Methods We used a well-established murine knockout model with low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor deficiency for atherosclerotic vascular pathogenesis to evaluate changes in Bruch’s membrane due to high cholesterol lev...