No abstract available.

No abstract available.

PURPOSE: Keratoconus is a bilateral noninflammatory ecstatic disease of cornea. Clinical manifestations and treatments are well-described , but the exact pathophysiology has many debates. There are many reports on pathologic abnormalities of keratoconus, but few reports on epithelial adhesion complex. The authors investigated the abnormalities in epithelial adhesion complex of keratoconus. METHODS: Using 4 corneas from 4 recipients of penetrating keratoplasty, examination was done with transmission electron microscope (Hitachi-600, Japan) after proper fixation and staining. Central and peripheral portion of each corneal tissues were examined. RESULTS: In two tissues, severe degeneration of basement membrane and Bowman's layer were found. Some degree of abnormalities was found in other tissues, which had minimal change. Some of hemidesmosomes, the most distinct part of adhesion complex, were found only in well-maintained tissue but the distribution was abnormal. CONCLUSIONS: The fact that basal plasma membrane had selectively more degenerations and changes than intercellular plasma membrane implies pathophysiology of keratoconus on adhesion complex, basal plasma membrane, basement membrane and Bowman's layer. Further study on this issue will reveal more information as to its pathophysiology.
Basement Membrane ; Cell Membrane ; Cornea ; Hemidesmosomes ; Keratoconus* ; Keratoplasty, Penetrating

The retinal and choroidal blood vessels respond independently to the abruptly increased arterial pressure due to their differences in the anatomic and physiologic properties, which induce hypertensive retinopathy and hypertensive choroidopathy respectively. The authors reviewed the fluorescein angiogram retrospectively to observe the ischemic changes of the choroid in 15 cases of hypertensive choroidopathy. The ischemic changes of the choroid in hypertensive choroidopathy were characterized by generalized or sectorial filling delay which was followed by staining or leakage of dye. These findings suggest that the choroidal circulation may lead to the sectorial and generalized ischemic conditions following the abruptly increased arterial pressure due to their differences in the anatomic structures. The fluorescein angiographic findings in the hypertensive choroidopathy depend on both the degree of the circulatory disturbance and the levels of the affected choroidal vessels.
Arterial Pressure ; Blood Vessels ; Choroid ; Fluorescein Angiography* ; Fluorescein* ; Hypertensive Retinopathy ; Retinaldehyde ; Retrospective Studies

Using Littmann's method for correcting the magnification of central fundus photographs, we evaluated the color photographs of 195 optic discs to measure the diameter and area of the optic disc. Minimal disc diameter ranged from 1.30mm to 2.53mm(mean 1.81mm) and maximal diameter from 1.53mm to 3.08mm(mean 2.04mm). Mean optic disc area measured 2.93mm2(minimum 1.63mm2, maximum 5.53mm2). The correlation coefficients between the refractive diopter of right eye and the disc diameter of right eye were 0.34 and between the refractive diopter of left eye and the disc diameter were 0.42. The correlation coefficients between the disc area and the refractive diopter were 0.43. There was no statistically significant difference in each optic disc diameter. Regarding the Gaussian distribution curve based on these preliminary data, microdiscs can be defined as being smaller than 1.57mm2(mean minus two standard deviations) and macrodiscs as being larger than 429mm2(mean plus two standard deviations).

PURPOSE: To report the relationship between the extent of rupture of the trabecular meshwork and intraocular pressure changes in traumatic hyphema patients. METHODS: Ninety-five trabecular meshwork rupture patients were selected from a group of traumatic hyphema patients. Identification and measurement of the rupture of the trabecular meshwork were performed by gonioscopy, and intraocular pressure was measured by Goldmann applanation tonometry until 3 months after the trauma. RESULTS: There were statistically significant differences of IOP between the traumatic eyes and the contralateral eyes at day 2, 3, 5, and 1 month (p=0.000, 0.018, 0.001, 0.040, respectively). IOP was highest at the 2nd day post-trauma, and dropped by the 5th day, after which it rose slightly. The relationship between the extent of trabecular meshwork rupture and the difference of IOP was positive at the 2nd day post-trauma (r=0.259) and negative at the 6th day post-trauma (r=-0.296); these differences are statistically significant (p=0.020, p=0.041, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: A rupture of the trabecular meshwork can be measured using gonioscopy, and the change of IOP in a trabecular meshwork rupture increases as the extent of the rupture of the trabecular meshwork increases.
Eye ; Gonioscopy ; Humans ; Hyphema ; Intraocular Pressure ; Manometry ; Rupture ; Trabecular Meshwork

This study was performed to observe the elementary body and initial body in the cultured conjuntival epithelial cell, which was co-cultures with Chlamydia trachomatis serotype-D. Following 3 weeks of cultivation of the rabbit conjuntival epithelial cell, Chlamydia trachomatis seretype-D was inoculated into the epithelial cells and co-cultured for 24, 48, and 96 hours respectively. The infected conjunctival epithelial cells was stained with fluorescence-conjugated chlamydial antibody and iodine staining. Regardless of the duration of the cocultivation time, the cultured conjunctival cells showed the positive reaction to immunofluorescent staining and iodine staining. These results indicate that Chlamydia trachomatis can be cultured in the cultured conjuntival epothelial cell of rabbit and iodine staining is a good alternative to the immunofluorescent method.
Chlamydia trachomatis* ; Chlamydia* ; Coculture Techniques ; Epithelial Cells ; Fluorescent Antibody Technique ; Inclusion Bodies ; Iodine

To evaluate the ultrastructure of cornea keratocyte infected by Herpes simplex virus, the cornea was excised from enucleated rabbit eyes. Cornea epithelium and endothelium of these was removed and cultivated in culture media. After 7 days, the Kos strain of Herpes simplex virus was inoculated into the cultured cornea keratocytes and co-cultivated until the cytopathic effect occurred. Cornea keratocytes was fixed in the 3%glutaraldehyde and examined with electron microscope. The infected cells were active cells and slightly more round appearance than normal cells. They had microvillies composed of cytoplasmic process protru-sions into collagen fibers. Virus particles was transmitted into neighboring cells easily since there was no barrier function of collagen fibers that was destroyed in the condition of culture. The nuclear changes of infected cells were marked :nuclear chromatin was degraded, condensated and displaced toward the nuclear membrane. There were many virus particles in the nucleus. There were also many degenerations in the cytoplasm, destructed numerous cytoplasmic organelles and many virus particles seen in the cytoplasm. The ultrastructural findings of keratocytes co-cultivated with Herpes simplex virus were identified from our result.
Chromatin ; Collagen ; Cornea ; Culture Media ; Cytoplasm ; Endothelium ; Epithelium ; Herpes Simplex* ; Microvilli ; Nuclear Envelope ; Organelles ; Simplexvirus* ; Virion

Keratic precipitates are deposits of material on the posterior surface of the cornea, which is a relatively common phenomenon in a variety of circumstances both physiological and pathological. Inflammatory cells and uveal pigment in the aqueous show a strong tendency to adhere to one another and to the corneal endothelium, thus forming fine or large deposits. We observed the several kinds of keratic precipitates on the corneal endothelium by flat preoparation method. The character of the keratic precipitates observed in this study was composed of inflammatory cells, erythrocyte, pigment granules derived from the breakdown of red blood cells. In view of the accumulation of the pigment granules into the cytoplasm, it seemed that the endothelium might participate in phagocytosis or secondary changes in the various corneal disease.
Cornea ; Corneal Diseases ; Cytoplasm ; Endothelium ; Endothelium, Corneal ; Erythrocytes ; Phagocytosis

In order to interprete the significance of the vacuolation found in the corneal endothelium, flat preparations of the corneal endothelium were made in human eyes aged from neonate to 72 year. The result were as follows. 1. The endothelial vacuoles were more frequent with the increase in the time of the post-mortem delay. 2. The endothelial vacuoles were more prevalent in aged. 3. The vacuoles in the endothelium were more easily formed in the peripheral area than the central area. 4. Gross vacuolation found in the corneal endothelium was shown to be the result of post mortem degeneration.
Endothelium ; Endothelium, Corneal* ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Vacuoles*