Table 1.
Characteristics of RPE cells with extremes of granule load and autofluorescence (AF)
| RPE-cells with | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Location | Group | Characteristic | Low granule content | High granule content | Low AF-intensity | High AF-intensity | All RPE-cells |
| Fovea | ≤51 years group | number of cells | n=5 | n=0 | n=2 | n=6 | n=70 |
| area [μm2] | 112.0±18.5 | n/a | 116.0±26.9 | 143.0±42.6 | 162.3±34.4 | ||
| (M+ML)/L-ratio | 7.2 ±5.7 | n/a | 14.3±7.5 | 2.8±1.9 | 5.9±5.4 | ||
| number of granules per cell area [×/100 μm2] | 148.8 ±19.3 | n/a | 231.0±66.9 | 177.7±65.9 | 191.4±39.4 | ||
| >80 years group | number of cells | n=6 | n=0 | n=3 | n=2 | n=50 | |
| area [μm2] | 112.2±35.3 | n/a | 117.0±18.5 | 181.0±36.8 | 172.3±57.8 | ||
| (M+ML)/L-ratio | 15.8 ±13.4 | n/a | 10.3±11.9 | 2.1±1.4 | 4.9±6.6 | ||
| number of granules per cell area [×/100 μm2] | 177.2 ±77.4 | n/a | 143.3±20.6 | 201.3±89.3 | 204.7±53.1 | ||
| Perifovea | ≤51 years group | number of cells | n=1 | n=6 | n=3 | n=2 | n=80 |
| area [μm2] | 94.3 | 403.3±62.5 | 157.7±20.7 | 250.0±2.8 | 224.7±74.3 | ||
| (M+ML)/L-ratio | 1.4 | 0.6±0.3 | 1.8±0.3 | 0.2±0.1 | 1.0±0.8 | ||
| number of granules per cell area [×/100 μm2] | 193.1 | 248.3±26.2 | 224.0±3.9 | 303.1±21.8 | 236.2±36.0 | ||
| >80 years group | number of cells | n=3 | n=8 | n=3 | n=7 | n=70 | |
| area [μm2] | 144.1±7.6 | 317.9±73.8 | 143.7±11.0 | 204.1±47.7 | 215.9±65.6 | ||
| (M+ML)/L-ratio | 1.8 ±0.9 | 0.5±0.2 | 1.6±1.1 | 0.4±0.2 | 0.7±0.4 | ||
| number of granules per cell area [×/100 μm2] | 127.7 ±4.3 | 283.8±45.7 | 178.8±87.1 | 247.5±45.5 | 230.4±52.6 | ||
| Near periphery | ≤51 years group | number of cells | n=1 | n=1 | n=5 | n=5 | n=80 |
| area [μm2] | 437.3 | 576.5 | 194.8 ±48.3 | 182.2±56.6 | 214.0±63.4 | ||
| (M+ML)/L-ratio | 10.5 | 0.4 | 2.5±1.8 | 0.8±0.4 | 1.6±1.4 | ||
| number of granules per cell area [×/100 μm2] | 39.6 | 210.1 | 221.3±57.2 | 217.9±62.0 | 194.0±36.4 | ||
| >80 years group | number of cells | n=5 | n=6 | n=4 | n=6 | n=70 | |
| area [μm2] | 168.3±19.2 | 365.5±237.3 | 200.3±61.8 | 276.2±217.8 | 2151±89.7 | ||
| (M+ML)/L-ratio | 3.7±3.7 | 0.5±0.3 | 4.0±4.2 | 0.6±0.3 | 1.5±1.6 | ||
| number of granules per cell area [×/100 μm2] | 106.1±12.3 | 405.1±114.3 | 175.8±79.0 | 280.5±163.4 | 228.6±87.4 | ||
L, lipofuscin; ML, melanolipofuscin; M, melanosomes. (M+ML)/L-ratio, melanin containing granules predominate when >1, and pure L granules predominate when <1.