ULTRASTRUCTURAL FINDINGS IN AUTOSOMAL-DOMINANT DRUSEN

We report the electron microscopic findings in a patient with autosoma l dominant drusen. The clinical features of the drusen resembled those occurring in age-related macular degeneration and were different from other dominantly inherited drusen syndromes, including malattia leven tinese and Doyne honeycomb familial choroiditis. The predominant ultra structural features included deposition of material between the baseme nt membrane of the retinal pigment epithelium and inner collagenous la yer of the Bruch membrane, which was composed of membranous material, tubelike structures, and vesicles. These ultrastructural findings were similar to those found in aging, implying that this autosomal dominan t macular degeneration may represent a homologue of age-related macula r degeneration.