Cell study clue

White blood cells that prevent abnormal blood vessel formation in younger subjects may have the opposite effect in the elderly.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine have found that macrophages play a role in retinal disease in older mice by failing to prevent abnormal and leaky vessels from forming (as reported in the November issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation). Such blood vessel changes contribute to diseases such as age-related macular degeneration. In younger mice the macrophages prevent such vessel formation.

Principal investigator Rajendra Apte has suggested that an understanding of the switch from one macrophage type to the other may help in the drive to treat or prevent age-related maculopathy.