Ocular and Visual Manifestation of the Alzheimer’s Disease: A Literature Review, Part I: Animal Models and Human Pathology

Abstract

Context: The retina is a part of the Central Nervous System that is easy to study. The visual disturbances are frequent in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients and sometimes, the AD begins with visual symptoms. This paper aims to review the existing literature on the involvement of the eye in the AD. In this first part, the animal models and the pathology in humans were examined. Evidence Acquisition: The Medline literature until March 2018 was surveyed. Results: Both animal models and pathological studies in humans demonstrate the impairment of the visual system in the AD, often in the early stages. Conclusions: A frequent and sometimes early involvement of the visual system was demonstrated but new studies are needed in order to investigate the degree of the visual impairment and in the animal models, the importance of the visual deficits in evaluating the cognitive deficits.