EXTRACELLULAR MATERIALS IN THE ENDOTHELIAL MESHWORK OF ORGANCULTURED HUMAN TRABECULAR MESHWORK - MORPHOLOGICAL AND MORPHOMETRIC STUDY

Twenty-three normal cadaver eyes were used in this study. Eight trabecular meshwork explants were dissected at 45-degree intervals from a 77-year-old donor eye and cultured for 2 weeks for studying circumferential differences in the amount of extracellular materials in the endothelial meshwork. One trabecular meshwork explant was dissected from each of 22 individual eyes (age range: 64-89 years) and cultured for 2 weeks to study the effect of age on the amount of the extracellular materials. Then, 5 consecutive electron micrographs in the endothelial meshwork were obtained from the individual specimens and subjected to morphometric studies. In the endothelial meshwork, the results revealed: (1) no statistically significant circumferential differences in the amount of extracellular materials and (2) no statistically significant changes associated with aging in the amount of these materials.