Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30357337›Full record

ReviewInvestigative ophthalmology & visual science2018

Antecedents of Soft Drusen, the Specific Deposits of Age-Related Macular Degeneration, in the Biology of Human Macula.

Christine A Curcio

Open access · goldAbstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Investigative ophthalmology & visual science, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 81 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
81citing papers in PubMed
12.6field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

81 citing papers in PubMed, 120 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Impaired Rod-Mediated Vision is the Functional Hallmark of Ageing and Early and Intermediate Age-Related Macular Degeneration.Ophthalmic & physiological optics : the journal of the British College of Ophthalmic Opticians (Optometrists) · 2026
    Article
  5. Article
  6. An siRNA targetingMolecular therapy. Nucleic acids · 2026
    Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Non-exudative macular neovascularization: a 3-year follow-up study assessing the progression for exudative or atrophic stages.Graefe's archive for clinical and experimental ophthalmology = Albrecht von Graefes Archiv fur klinische und experimentelle Ophthalmologie · 2026
    Observational
  12. Article
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  15. Article
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  18. Article
  19. Dietary effects on the retina of hamsters.FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology · 2025
    Article
  20. Article

21 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.

Christine A CurcioDepartment of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, United States.
University of Alabama at Birmingham · US

Funding

A hyperspectral approach to RPE fluorophores in AMDR01EY027948 · NEI · UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM · PI ACH, THOMAS, CURCIO, CHRISTINE A · 2017 to 2025
$3.8M
Hyperspectral Imaging of the Normal and Age-related Macular Degeneration FundusR01EY021470 · NEI · NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE · PI FAWZI, AMANI A, SMITH, ROLAND THEODORE · 2011 to 2014
$3.4M
NEI NIH HHS R01 EY021470NEI NIH HHS R01 EY027948
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

AMD pathobiology was irreversibly changed by the recent discovery of extracellular cholesterol-containing deposits in the subretinal space, between the photoreceptors and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), called subretinal drusenoid deposits (SDDs). SDDs strikingly mirror the topography of rod photoreceptors in human macula, raising the question of whether an equivalent process results in a deposition related to foveal cones. Herein we propose that AMD's pathognomonic lesion-soft drusen and basal linear deposit (BLinD, same material, diffusely distributed)-is the leading candidate. Epidemiologic, clinical, and histologic data suggest that these deposits are most abundant in the central macula, under the fovea. Strong evidence presented in a companion article supports the idea that the dominant ultrastructural component is large apolipoprotein B,E-containing lipoproteins, constitutively secreted by RPE. Lipoprotein fatty acids are dominated by linoleate (implicating diet) rather than docosahexaenoate (implicating photoreceptors); we seek within the retina cellular relationships and dietary drivers to explain soft druse topography. The delivery of xanthophyll pigments to highly evolved and numerous Müller cells in the human fovea, through RPE, is one strong candidate, because Müller cells are the main reservoir of these pigments, which replenish from diet. We propose that the evolution of neuroglial relations and xanthophyll delivery that underlie exquisite human foveal vision came with a price, that is, soft drusen and sequela, long after our reproductive years.

Indexed as

Apolipoproteins BApolipoproteins EHumansMacula LuteaMacular DegenerationRetinal DrusenRetinal Pigment EpitheliumXanthophyllsApolipoproteins BApolipoproteins EXanthophylls

Identifiers

PMID30357337
PMCPMC6733529
OpenAlexW2898580429

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.