БОЛЕЗНИ ХИРУРГИЧЕСКОГО ПРОФИЛЯ MICROSTRUCTURE OF THE INNER WALL OF RETINAL ARTERIES CHANGES WITH AGE IN ANAMNESTICALY HEALTHY PERSONS* K.E. Kotliar, B. Mьcke, I.M. Lanzl Department of Ophthalmology (Augenklinik rechts der Isar) Munich University of Technology 22 Ismaninger Str., 81675 Munich, Germany G. Drozdova, I.V. Kastyro Department of general pathology and physiopathology Peoples' Friendship University of Russia Mikluho-Maklaya str., 8 Moscow, Russia, 117198 W. Vilser Department of Biomedical Engineering Ilmenau University of Technology 2 Gustaf Kirchhof str., 98693 Ilmenau, Germany Arteriosclerosis involves the whole human vascular system with a somewhat patchy appearance. <...> Although typical arteriosclerotic lesions are confined to major arteries, vessels of microcirculation are affected as well. <...> They can be assessed in non invasive ways by rather simple optical methods and are similar to cerebral vessels in their structure and function. <...> The aim of the present work was to study functional and morphological age-related alterations in retinal vasculature as well as to determine quantitative parameters which could characterize these changes. <...> Changes in longitudinal vessel section of retinal arterial segments were examined clinically by Retinal Vessel Analyzer (IMEDOS, Germany) in 35 anamnesticaly healthy persons at the age of 21—27 years, 40— 60 years and 60—85. <...> A monochromatic flicker of 12.5 Hz was applied for 60 s. <...> Arterial diameters were measured in vessel segments of 1 mm in length in order to obtain the longitudinal arterial profiles. <...> Differences in amplitude and frequency of arterial widths change were characterized by the parameter ‘spectral edge frequency’ (SEF). <...> The rate of microirregularity of retinal arterial inner walls along a vessel increased significantly in anamnesticaly healthy volunteers with increasing age. <...> SEF was significantly different between the young and senior age groups in each phase of the arterial reaction to flicker (p < 0,05, MannWhitney-Test). <...> No significant difference within any age group was found in each phase of the arterial reaction. <...> However following stimulation the middle age group displayed a significant difference to the young * This work was supported by a grant from Clinical Research Foundation KKF, Klinikum rechts der Isar <...>