Visibly Better Eyecare

A new form of the omega-3 fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), has been developed that is able to cross into the eye’s retina to stave off the visual declines related to Alzheimer’s, diabetes and other diseases.

The DHA found in fish oil capsules and other supplements is usually in a form called triacylglycerol (TAG) DHA. TAG-DHA has benefits in other areas of the body, however, it does not reach the eyes on account of the fact that it cannot traverse from the bloodstream into the retina. For this study, researchers created a new lysophospholipid form of DHA, or LPC-DHA. Using mice, LPC-DHA successfully increased DHA in the retina and reduced eye problems associated with Alzheimer’s-like processes.

“Dietary LPC-DHA is enormously superior to TAG-DHA in enriching retinal DHA and could be potentially beneficial for various retinopathies in patients,” said Sugasini Dhavamani, a research assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago. “This approach provides a novel therapeutic approach for the prevention or mitigation of retinal dysfunction associated with Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes.”

Dhavamani will present the research at Discover BMB, the annual meeting of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, March 25-28 in Seattle.

In healthy eyes, DHA is concentrated in the retina, where it helps maintain photoreceptors, the cells that convert light into signals that are sent to the brain. When there is a DHA deficiency in the retina it is usually associated with vision loss. People with Alzheimer’s disease, as well as those with diabetes, retinitis pigmentosa, age-related macular degeneration and peroxisomal disorders, frequently have abnormally low levels of retinal DHA, and as a result visual impairments are common.

While boosting DHA can help to prevent such declines, increasing retinal DHA content has been a challenge with the supplements currently available. Here’s the issue: for a dietary supplement to effectively deliver DHA to the retina, the DHA must be able to first be absorbed from the intestine into the bloodstream and then cross from the bloodstream into the retina in an amount that will be beneficial to the patient.

“Increasing the retinal DHA at clinically feasible doses has not been possible until now because of the specificity of the blood-retinal barrier that is incompatible with the specificity of the intestinal barrier,” said Dhavamani. “This study uses the novel approach of dietary LPC-DHA that overcomes both intestinal and blood-retinal barriers and improves retinal function.”

The researchers tested their LPC-DHA supplement in mice bred to exhibit processes similar to those found in early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. After six months, mice that were fed LPC-DHA daily showed a 96% improvement in retinal DHA content and preserved retinal structure and function. In contrast, TAG-DHA supplements had no effect on retinal DHA levels or function.

The results suggest that LPC-DHA supplements could help to prevent Alzheimer’s-related declines in visual function. Researchers believe this approach should also be helpful for other disorders in which DHA deficiency and vision impairment are common.

The dosage of LPC-DHA used in the study is equivalent to about 250 to 500 milligrams of omega-3 fatty acids per day in humans. Because these studies were conducted in mice, additional studies would be need to be conducted to confirm that LPC-DHA is safe and effective for use in humans.

One day in the not too distant future, it may be possible to screen patients for Alzheimer’s disease using an eye exam.

By using technology similar to what is already found in many eye doctors’ offices, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have detected evidence suggesting Alzheimer’s in older patients who had no symptoms of the disease.

“This technique has great potential to become a screening tool that helps decide who should undergo more expensive and invasive testing for Alzheimer’s disease prior to the appearance of clinical symptoms,” said the study’s first author, Bliss E. O’Bryhim, MD, PhD,. “Our hope is to use this technique to understand who is accumulating abnormal proteins in the brain that may lead them to develop Alzheimer’s.”

Substantial brain damage from Alzheimer’s disease can occur years before any symptoms such as memory loss and cognitive decline appear. Scientists estimate that Alzheimer’s-related plaques can build up in the brain two decades before the onset of symptoms, so researchers have been looking for ways to detect the disease sooner.

Physicians now use PET scans and lumbar punctures to help diagnose Alzheimer’s, but they are both expensive and invasive.

Previous studies that involved examining the eyes of people who had died from Alzheimer’s had reported that the eyes of such patients showed signs of thinning in the center of the retina and degradation of the optic nerve.

In the new study, the researchers used a noninvasive technique — called optical coherence tomography angiography — to examine the retinas in eyes of 30 study participants with an average age in the mid 70s, none of whom exhibited clinical symptoms of Alzheimer’s.

Those participants were patients in The Memory and Aging Project at Washington University’s Knight Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center

“In the patients with elevated levels of amyloid or tau, we detected significant thinning in the center of the retina,” said one of the researchers “All of us have a small area devoid of blood vessels in the center of our retinas that is responsible for our most precise vision. We found that this zone lacking blood vessels was significantly enlarged in people with preclinical Alzheimer’s disease.”

The eye test used in the study shines light into the eye, allowing a doctor to measure retinal thickness, as well as the thickness of fibers in the optic nerve. A form of that test often is currently available in some optometrist and most ophthalmologist’s offices. In fact, the Mettawa office of Visibly Better Eye Care has the OCT machine needed to perform this test, but as of yet they are not offering this service.

For purpose of this study, however, the researchers added a new component to the more common test: angiography, which allows doctors to distinguish red blood cells from other tissue in the retina.

“The angiography component allows us to look at blood-flow patterns,” said the other co-principal investigator said. “In the patients whose PET scans and cerebrospinal fluid showed preclinical Alzheimer’s, the area at the center of the retina without blood vessels was significantly larger, suggesting less blood flow.”

“The retina and central nervous system are so interconnected that changes in the brain could be reflected in cells in the retina.”

Of the patients studied, 17 had abnormal PET scans and/or lumbar punctures, and all of them also had retinal thinning and significant areas without blood vessels in the centers of their retinas. The retinas appeared normal in the patients whose PET scans and lumbar punctures were within the typical range.

“We know the pathology of Alzheimer’s disease starts to develop years before symptoms appear, but if we could use this eye test to notice when the pathology is beginning, it may be possible one day to start treatments sooner to delay further damage,” one of the researchers said.

To read the original article in its entirety, click here. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/08/180823140921.htm

Tag Archives: Alzheimer’s

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