Features of retina remodeling during its physiological aging and age-related macular degeneration

Aging is the main risk factor for the development of all age-associated diseases of the central nervous system and retina, such as agerelated macular degeneration (AMD) and glaucoma. The lack of effective treatments for these diseases is partly due to a lack of understanding of the impact of normal physiological aging on neural network remodeling, which reflects adaptive neuroplasticity and is aimed at preserving and maintaining the normal function of neurons in the aging retina, as well as differences in the signs of retinal remodeling during normal and pathological aging. A characteristic feature of aging is subtle plastic changes, restructuring of connections between neurons in the outer retina and weakening of the functional activity of the retina, depending on the structure of neural networks. In the inner retina, the localization of contacts of bipolar cells with amacrine and ganglion cells does not change, but with age, simplification and narrowing of dendritic branches in most retinal ganglion cells occurs. Remodeling of neuronal contacts in eyes with AMD differs from that of normally aging retina by the degree of neuroplastic changes, rapid growth and remodeling of dendritic branching of bipolar cells, and the formation of multiple tangential contacts that provide connections between bipolar dendrites and distant photoreceptors. In advanced AMD and other age-related diseases, structural remodeling of the retina is significantly affected by cellular losses (of photoreceptors and other retinal neurons), rupture and simplification of dendritic branching, modification of Müller glial cell processes, and weakening of their functional symbiosis with retinal neurons.

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