Abstract
Descemet's membrane, previously thought to be "structureless," has been found to be characterized by a fine structure of great regularity. Sections perpendicular to the plane of the membrane surface appeared to be cross-striated, with narrow dark bands separated by wide light bands traversed by fine filaments. Tangential sections showed a two-dimensional array of dark nodes and thin internodal filaments which connected each node with the six others around it to form a hexagonal figure. The average distance between nodes, and between the dark bands in transverse sections, was about 1070 A; the width of the nodes was about 270 A; and the width of the connecting filaments was less than 100 A. This pattern has been found in all species of Descemet's membrane so far examined, although it appeared to be better developed in some forms than in others. So far as is known, it has not been observed in any other type of tissue. The differentiation of Descemet's membrane has been followed in the chick embryo. It appeared late and developed slowly but showed the characteristic fine structure from the time it could be clearly identified. The evidence for placing Descemet's membrane in the collagen class of proteins is strongly supplemented by the results obtained from x-ray diffraction examination by Rougvie and Bear.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (803.8 KB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- BAUD C. A., BALAVOINE C. L'ultrastructure de la membrane de Descemet et de ses dérivés pathologiques (stries hyalines). Ophthalmologica. 1953 Nov;126(5):290–294. doi: 10.1159/000301887. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- DAY R. Polysaccharides in ocular tissue. Am J Ophthalmol. 1950 Feb;33(2):224–226. doi: 10.1016/0002-9394(50)90840-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- DOHLMAN C. H., BALAZS E. A. Chemical studies on Descemet's membrane of the bovine cornea. Arch Biochem Biophys. 1955 Aug;57(2):445–457. doi: 10.1016/0003-9861(55)90306-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- NORTH A. C., COWAN P. M., RANDALL J. T. Structural units in collagen fibrils. Nature. 1954 Dec 18;174(4442):1142–1143. doi: 10.1038/1741142a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- TENG C. C., KATZIN H. M. The basement membrane of corneal epithelium; a preliminary report. Am J Ophthalmol. 1953 Jul;36(7 1):895–900. doi: 10.1016/0002-9394(53)92169-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- WISLOCKI G. B. The anterior segment of the eye of the rhesus monkey investigated by histochemical means. Am J Anat. 1952 Sep;91(2):233–261. doi: 10.1002/aja.1000910203. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]