Preparation of a Thiolated Derivative of A2E, a Pigment of the Lipofuscin of Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells

Retinal age pigments, or lipofuscin granula, contain a number of fluorophores that accumulate as a consequence of light-related vitamin A recycling in association with aging and with some retinal disorders in retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells.1 Lipofuscin is a mixture of incompletely degraded materials trapped in lysosomes of RPE cells and the fluorophores of lipofuscin granular are thought to re-present a biomarker for cellular aging, since the byproducts in RPE cells are considered to be a key contributor in the etiology of age-related macular degradation (AMD), a common cause of blindness in elderly people.2,3 Although AMD is reported to be a leading cause of legal blindness in developed countries and several treatment options have been recently developed,4-6 treatment of AMD still remains difficult because the molecular composition and pathogenic