Amyloid Deposits in the Retina of the Human Eye are Biomarkers of Two Different Diseases

Retinal amyloid deposits were studied ex vivo in three-dimensions using confocal scanning laser microscopy. Some deposits were found in association with blood vessels with morphologies that resembled those reported in association with cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA). Others associated with neural cell layers, previously imaged in atomic force microscopy, had morphologies similar to those typically reported in the brain in Alzheimer's disease. Deposits associated with neural cell layers, imaged here, differed from the previous two morphologies.