Inner surface of regions in the anterior chamber taking part in the regulation of the intraocular tension, including the demonstration of the covering viscous substance

摘要

The theory of regulation of aqueous drainage by the changing viscosity of the material flowing through the slits of the chamber angle assumes a coating of viscous substance which can be depolymerized on the surface of the cornea and its surroundings. As it is difficult to prove the substance by any other method, the author used for its demonstration his method of taking replicas from the wet tissue surface which show exactly any unevenness of the surface, whether they are caused by the surface of the endothelial cells themselves or by the covering viscous coating. To prove the presence of this viscous coating, the author removed it by depolymerizing enzymes in the eye of the macaque in situ. In the zone of the beginning of stomata this denuded endothelial surface presents central flagella apart from the sharply protruding relief of the intercellular ledges. The surprising finding of central flagella just before the entrance into the stomata cannot be an artefact under any conditions, and thus proves definitely the viscous coating which before its removal masked the surface details. By the repeated taking of pseudoreplicas further microrelief details can be uncovered in the region of Descemet's membrane, like the relief of Descemet's membrane in the corneal region itself, groups of small perforations in Descemet's membrane in the region of the stomata, arching slits of praestomata turned with their concavity towards the cornea, and the transverse twisting of Descemet's membrane on the surface of the trabecules (see the overall diagram in Fig. 1).