Ocular Age Pigment "A2-E": An Unprecedented Pyridinium Bisretinoid

which no remedy exists. It is generally accepted that the pigments are formed as a consequence of accumulation of debris resulting from incomplete digestion of phagocytosed outer segment disks in lysosomes. Among the compounds that accumulate in lipofuscin, the orange fluorophores have attracted wide interest since they are considered to be the possible cause of age-related decline of cell functions. In this communication we report the structure of the major fluorophore. This orange pigment was first isolated from >250 human donor eyes (age >40 years) by a series of silica gel column chromatography and preparative TLC. 3,4a Structural studies