Macular degeneration involves loss of retinal pigment epithelial cells and thickening/calcification of Bruch's membrane, analogous to atherosclerotic plaque.

“what we see in macro degeneration is many things but we see mainly we see um loss of retinal pigment epithelial cells these are the cells that support the photoreceptors the photoreceptors the rods and cones and that's what ultimately is required is to see so so we have you know we have loss of the rpe of the retinal pigment epithelial cells each one of those cells supports about 30 photoreceptors neither of these are regenerative all right so if you lose them they're gone forever I think of it like having a stroke or having a heart attack you know once those neurons or once those muscle cells are gone you know they're they're gone they're replaced by a scar you know they're gone forever so you have that you have this damage to the retinal pigment retinal pigment epithelium you have thickening of Brooks membrane which separates the blood supply um the choreo capillaris so the separator between that choreo capillaris and the retinal pigment epithelium is the Brooks membrane and Brook's membrane thickens and calcifies in a way that is analogous to exactly what we see in an atherosclerotic plaque or they're very very similar”