The Fovea: Structure, Function, Development, and Tractional Disorders

The Fovea: Structure, Function, Development, and Disease summarizes the current biological knowledge regarding the two types of the vertebrate fovea (and its main structural elements, the Müller cells). This information is then used to explain different aspects of human vision, foveal development, and macular disorders. Sections give an overview of the retinal structure and the different types of retinal glia, survey the structure and function of the primate and non-mammalian fovea types, discuss foveal development―with a focus on the human fovea, cover the roles of Müller cells and astrocytes in the pathogenesis and regeneration of various human macular disorders are described.

Using a translational approach, this reference is a valuable text for scientists, clinicians and physicians interested in the fovea. Readers will gain a new understanding of the cellular basics of the fovea, which is the most important part of the eye.

• Adopts a translational approach, summarizing the biological knowledge regarding the structure and function of the fovea, the roles of Müller cells in mediating the structural integrity, and function of the fovea
• Provides overviews of both basic types of the vertebrate fovea, countering the popular belief that there is only one type of the vertebrate fovea, the human fovea
• Thoroughly shows the mechanisms involved in the development of the fovea that explain the rapid improvement of visual acuity in newborns
• Explains pathological changes in the foveal structure and function with evaluation pointing toward possible prevention and/or cure

Since 1996, the research focus of Dr. Andreas Bringmann has been the Müller cell and the retina. He studied Biology (Animal Physiology) and worked in the basic sciences after the study. He was from 1990 to 2002 scientific assistant at the Department of Neurophysiology, Paul Flechsig Institute of Brain Research, Medical Faculty of the University of Leipzig (Head of the Department: Andreas Reichenbach, MD). Since 2002, he is the Head of the Research Laboratory of the Department of Ophthalmology and Eye Clinic, Medical Faculty of the University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany. He has published 181 peer-reviewed original papers, 30 review articles, 10 book chapters, and 2 books.

Dr. Peter Wiedemann is Professor of Ophthalmology at Leipzig University. He is a vitreoretinal specialist whose expertise includes complex vitreoretinal surgery and macular disorders.

Dr. Wiedemann earned his medical degree at Erlangen University, Germany. He started ophthalmic research at the Doheny Eye Institute, Los Angeles, with Dr. Stephen Ryan and completed residency and fellowship in ophthalmology at Cologne University with Prof. Klaus Heimann. In his research Dr. Wiedemann studies retinal and macular disorders and Müller cells pathophysiology.

He has authored over 500 peer reviewed publications in ophthalmology and is co-editor of the textbook Ryan´s Retina. He is a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, the German Ophthalmological Society, the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the Club Jules Gonin. He is also a Fellow of the Academia Ophthalmologica Internationalis (AOI), the European Academy of Ophthalmology, and a Board Member of the International Council of Ophthalmology (ICO).