Aged Retina

This latex document shows the effect of ageing on the rod-choriod complex. Atrophy of the chorio-capillaris reduces the blood flow and hence the concentration of available nutrients and ability to remove heat. The build up of hydrophobic material in Bruch’s increases its resistance to the flow of solutes. The complex age related changes to the RPE compromise retinoid recycling. The result of these changes is to elevate absolute thresholds and reduce the rate at which the rod photoreceptor can recover from a photic challenge. Ret means retinoid,[ ] concentration, hV a photon.