Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder, the most common form of dementia. AD is characterised by amyloid-β (Aβ) plaques and neurofibrillary tangles (NFT) in the brain, in association with neuronal loss and synaptic failure, causing cognitive deficits. Accurate and early diagnosis is currently unavailable in lifespan, hampering early intervention of potential new treatments. Visual deficits have been well documented in AD patients, and the pathological changes identified in the brain are also believed to be found in the retina, an integral part of the central nervous system. Retinal changes can be detected by real-time non-invasive imaging, due to the transparent nature of the ocular media, potentially allowing an earlier diagnosis as well as monitoring disease progression and treatment outcome. Animal models are essential for AD research, and this review has a focus on retinal changes in various transgenic AD mouse models with retinal imaging and immunohistochemical analysis as well as therapeutic effects in those models. We also discuss the limitations of transgenic AD models in clinical translations.

阿尔茨海默病 (AD) 是一种神经退行性疾病，是痴呆症的最常见形式。AD 的特征是大脑中的淀粉样蛋白 β (Aβ) 斑块和神经原纤维缠结 (NFT)，与神经元丢失和突触衰竭有关，导致认知缺陷。目前无法在整个生命周期中进行准确和早期的诊断，从而阻碍了对潜在新疗法的早期干预。AD 患者的视觉缺陷已得到充分证明，大脑中发现的病理变化也被认为存在于视网膜中，视网膜是中枢神经系统的一个组成部分。由于眼部介质的透明性，可以通过实时非侵入性成像检测视网膜变化，从而有可能进行早期诊断以及监测疾病进展和治疗结果。动物模型对于 AD 研究至关重要，本综述重点关注各种转基因 AD 小鼠模型中视网膜成像和免疫组织化学分析的视网膜变化以及这些模型的治疗效果。我们还讨论了转基因 AD 模型在临床翻译中的局限性。