Lipofuscin

Aside from a large lipid content, lipofuscin is known to contain sugars and metals, including mercury, aluminium, iron, copper and zinc.

Such accumulation can be induced in rats by administering a protease inhibitor (leupeptin); after a period of three months, the levels of the lipofuscin-like material return to normal, indicating the action of a significant disposal mechanism.

[8][9] There exists evidence that "true lipofuscin" is not degradable in vitro;[10][11][12] whether this holds in vivo over longer time periods is not clear.

[13] Bleaching the retina with strong light leads to formation of toxic cationic bis-pyridinium salt, N-retinylidene-N-retinyl-ethanolamine (A2E), which causes dry and wet age-related macular degeneration.

In the peripheral nervous system, abnormal accumulation of lipofuscin known as lipofuscinosis[1] is associated with a family of neurodegenerative disorders – neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses, the most common of these is Batten disease.

[citation needed] Soraprazan (remofuscin) has been found to remove lipofuscin from retinal pigment epithelial cells in animals.

Age determination of fish and shellfish is a fundamental step in generating basic biological data such as growth curves, and is needed for many stock assessment methods.