Senile ocular amyloidosis in SAM and BALB/c strains of mice.

We investigated whether amyloid deposition can affect retinal atrophy in old SAMR1, SAMP1 and BALB/c mice. Immunohistochemistry revealed that old SAMP1 mice showed the deposition of the murine senile amyloid protein fibril, AApoA-II in the subconjunctival tissue, the vessel walls near the chamber angle, and the sheaths of the external ocular muscles and the conjunctival glands, but was never observed in the retina or the choroid. Although the old SAMR1 mice also showed a remarkable loss of retinal photoreceptor and ganglion cells, they never showed any amyloid deposition. The BALB/c strain did not showed any amyloid deposition either. Our data suggest that atrophy of the retina is not related to senile systemic amyloidosis in mice.