Stain Permeability and Ultrastructure of the Corneal Endothelium

Abstract

In a previous paper¹ reference was made to difficulties encountered in studying normal corneal endothelial cells owing to the rapid development of cytoplasmic vacuoles which could only be prevented by special techniques of fixation. Since many of the descriptions in the literature are based on poorly fixed material, the normal histology has been reinvestigated and an attempt has been made to correlate the findings obtained with the light and electron microscope. Material It was not possible to obtain rapidly fixed human eyes; consequently, rabbit, cat, and monkey eyes were examined which had been perfused with fixative while the animal was anesthetized or very soon after death. Formalin 10% and buffered osmic acid 1% were used, the latter particularly for fixing material which was subsequently cut into small blocks and prepared for study with the electron microscope. Segments of cornea, which included the filtration angle, were inverted in a number