The Cornea in Normal Condition and in Groenouw's Macular Dystrophy

by J. François, V. Victoria-Troncoso

Overview

The three most striking characteristics of the cornea are: a) Its structure or rather its perfectly regular architectonic, by virtue of which it is transparent. b) The absence of vessels, the cornea being nourished by the perilimbic vessels, the endothelial surface in communication with the aqueous humour and the epithelial surface in contact with the pre-corneal film. c) The very slow turnover of the cells, that is to say the keraytes, with the result that the metabolism of the cornea is very weak. It is this third characteristic which justifies our present investigation. The keraytes, which are apparently inactive, have in fact a latent activity. They can be activated by central corneal incisions and also by tissue cultures. Under either of those conditions, the keraytes become very active, develop all the cytoplasmic organites and produce mucopoly­ saccharides as well as the precursors of the collagen (Fig. 1). In order to study the pathological kerayte, we chose a storage disease, wherein the catabolism of the mucopolysaccharides is blocked, namely the macular dystrophy of the cornea. We undertook the same investigation both for normal and for pathologi­ cal corneas and studied the kerayte 'in situ' and in tissue cultures using various microscopical and hishemical techniques. In macular dystrophy, we investigated also the deteriorations secondary to the changes in the keraytes.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789400991798
Publisher:	Springer Netherlands
Publication date:	11/10/2011
Edition description:	Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1980
Pages:	210
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.02(d)

Table of Contents

one: Normal keraytes.- I: Material and methods.- II: Normal keraytes in situ.- III: Architectonic of the cornea.- IV: The keraytes in the process of cicatrisation of the corneal stroma.- V: Keraytes in tissue culture.- two: Pathological keraytes (Macular dystrophy of the cornea).- VI.- VII: Microscopical and hishemical study of macular dystrophy.- VIII: Transmission electron microscopy of the corneal stroma in macular dystrophy of the cornea.- IX: Scanning electron microscopy of the corneal stroma in macular dystrophy.- X: Changes of the epithelium, the base membrane, the endothelium and the Descemet’s membrane in macular dystrophy of the cornea.- XI: Hishemical and microscopical study of corneal cultures from macular dystrophy.- XII: Transmission electron microscopy of cultures of the corneal stroma in macular dystrophy.- XIII: Scanning electron microscopy of cultures of macular dystrophy of the cornea.- XIV: Vital staining of the lysosomes in normal keraytes and in keraytes from macular dystrophy.- XV: Active biological substance present in normal keraytes and capable of acting on the stored mucopolysaccharides in macular dystrophy of the cornea.- XVI: Pathogenesis of macular dystrophy of the cornea.- XVII: Treatment of macular dystrophy of the cornea.- Summary.- Summary.