Increasing evidence suggests that the conditions of retinal microvessels are indicators to a variety of cerebrovascular, neurodegenerative, psychiatric and developmental diseases. Thus, non-invasive visualization of the human retinal microcirculation offers an exceptional opportunity for the investigation of not only the retinal but also cerebral microvasculature. In this review, we show how the conditions of the retinal microvessels could be used to assess the conditions of brain microvessels because of the microvascular network of the retina and brain share in many aspects standard features in development, morphology, function and pathophysiology. Recent techniques and imaging modalities, such as optical coherence tomography (OCT) - allow more precise visualization of various layers of the retina and its microcirculation, providing a "microscope" to brain microvessels. We also review the potential role of retinal microvessels in the risk identification of cerebrovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. The association between vision problems and cerebrovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, as well as the possible role of retinal microvascular imaging biomarkers in cerebrovascular and neurodegenerative screening - their potentials and limitations - are also discussed.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 18. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 13 January 2026.
All research outputs
#2,654,212
of 34,410,315 outputs
Outputs from American Journal of Physiology: Heart & Circulatory Physiology
#288
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Outputs of similar age
#38,778
of 458,086 outputs
Outputs of similar age from American Journal of Physiology: Heart & Circulatory Physiology
#5
of 54 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 34,410,315 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 92nd percentile: it's in the top 10% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 7,403 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 6.2. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 96% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 458,086 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 91% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 54 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 90% of its contemporaries.
