Posted on September 25, 2001 at 9:50 a.m.

BIRMINGHAM, AL — UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) researchers studying age-related macular degeneration have an improved research tool, due to a grant from the International Retinal Research Foundation of Birmingham. The three-year, $400,000 grant will enable researchers in UAB’s Age-related Maculopathy Histopathology Laboratory to increase the amount of eye tissue received from the Alabama Eye Bank. Age-related Maculopathy (ARM) is the leading cause of vision loss in older Americans.

The grant will enable UAB researchers to obtain, process and study tissue from 100 pairs of eyes each year, up from an average of about 60 pairs currently. Nationally, only UAB and the University of Iowa have partnerships in place between eye banks and researchers that allow for eye tissue to be collected and studied specifically for this disease.

“This is an important resource in our efforts to better understand ARM,” says Christine Curcio, Ph.D., professor of ophthalmology at UAB. “Thirty percent of people over age 75 have signs of ARM, yet we have no cure, treatments are limited and we know little about the causes and progression of the disease.”

The process of donating eyes for research is similar to that for donating organs for transplantation. If family members give permission for donation, technicians from the Alabama Eye Bank most often simply remove the corneas from deceased donors. If healthy, the corneas can be used for transplantation. In other instances, whole eyes are removed, useable corneas are transplanted, and the remaining tissue is sent to Curcio1s laboratory for study.

“In the past two decades, the Alabama Eye Bank has been one of the largest providers of research services in the United States,” says Doyce Williams, head of the Alabama Eye Bank. “The untiring efforts of Dr. Curcio and other eye research organizations have resulted in increased eye donation among Alabamians, who in turn provide the incomparable gift of sight.”

AMD affects central vision and can make it difficult to read, drive, or perform other daily activities that require detailed vision. The more common type, dry ARM, is responsible for about 90 percent of cases. The light-sensitive cells in the macula, the center of the retina, begin to break down, leading to central vision loss in the affected eye.

The less common wet ARM occurs when new blood vessels behind the retina start to grow toward the macula. Because these new blood vessels tend to be very fragile, they will often leak blood and fluid under the macula. This causes rapid damage to the macula that can lead to the loss of central vision in a short period of time.

Although AMD can occur during middle age, the risk increases with age. Women are at greater risk than men and smoking, hypertension and a family history of AMD are also risk factors.