The Structure of Human Retinal Vascular System

Abstract

Introduction In the past, several methods and staining techniques have been used to visualize the architecture of the retinal vessels. The method of trypsin digestion and periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) with hematoxylin and eosin staining technique has been introduced and developed by Kuwabara and Cogan.¹ With this method all nonvascular components of the retina are digested and only the retinal vessels remain for staining. In the present study visualization of the retinal vessels of the human eye was performed with trypsin digestion and also with a distilled water technique without any chemical or enzymatic agent. Satisfactory flat preparations of the vascular system of the human retina were obtained by both methods for microscopic study. Method A. Some slight modifications in the trypsin digestion technique of Kuwabara and Cogan were made. The whole human retina was used without dividing it into quarters (Fig 1) and without washing overnight in running water.