Bimodal spatial distribution of macular pigment : evidence of a gender relationship

The spatial distribution of the optical density of the human macular pigment measured by two-wavelength autofluorescence imaging exhibits in over half of the subjects an annulus of higher density superimposed on a central exponential-like distribution. This annulus is located at about 0.7 degrees from the fovea. Women have broader distributions than men, and they are more likely to exhibit this bimodal distribution. Maxwell's spot reported by subjects matches the measured distribution of their pigment. Evidence that the shape of the foveal depression may be gender related leads us to hypothesize that differences in macular pigment distribution are related to anatomical differences in the shape of the foveal depression

Quantification of retinal chromophores through autofluorescence imaging to identify precursors of age-related macular degeneration.

Agerelated macular degeneration is a common disease that impairs central vision. To better understand early disease progression, we quantified two families of retinal chromophores: macular pigments in retinal axons and rod photoreceptor rhodopsin, whose changes have been associated with age-related maculopathy progression. First, we introduced noninvasive multispectral fluorescence imaging of the human retina and quantified macular pigments from those multispectral image sets. Second, we modeled the brightening of the lipofuscin autofluorescence in confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscopy imaging sequences to map local rod rhodopsin density