An Autoradiographic Demonstration of the Effect of the Corneal Epithelium on Amino Acid Incorporation into the Insoluble Constituents of the Corneal Stroma

Abstract

One half of the epithelium was removed from dissected corneas of 1-week-old chicks and the corneas were incubated for 1 hr. in a synthetic nutrient solution containing 0.6 [mu]C of glycine-1-C14. After sectioning of the corneas it could be demonstrated auto-radiographically that the incorporation of the glycine into the "insoluble" constituents of the stroma is limited exactly to the area which is covered by the epithelium. This finding supports earlier results which indicate that the corneal epithelium is essential for utilization of amino acids in the corneal stroma.