Investigating Mitochondrial Fission, Fusion, and Biogenesis in Pathology of Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Abstract

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of irreversible blindness in developed countries. Due to our fragmented understanding of AMD’s pathologic mechanisms, there remains no FDA-approved treatment for the dry form of AMD. Studies from the Ferrington laboratory at the University of Minnesota and other groups report evidence of mitochondrial damage and dysfunction in RPE from AMD donors. Under normal conditions, the RPE maintains a healthy pool of mitochondria through dynamic processes such as mitochondrial Fission, Fusion, Biogenesis, and Mitophagy. In this poster, we investigated protein abundance levels of key proteins involved in mitochondrial Fission, Fusion, and Biogenesis. Our results indicate statically significant differences in abundance levels of proteins involved in Fission as well as Biogenesis between AMD and No AMD donors.