Nanophthalmic sclera. Ultrastructural, histochemical, and biochemical observations
R. L. Trelstad, N. N. Silbermann and R. J. Brockhurst
Scleral tissue from two cases of nanophthalmos was examined by amino acid
analysis, light microscopy, histochemistry, and transmission electron
microscopy. Perifibrillar aggregates, similar to proteoglycans, were
prominent in the nanophthalmic sclera. The sclerae were thicker than normal
and the bundles of collagen fibrils were less ordered. The clinical
features of vortex vein compression seem causally related to the disordered
and thickened sclera, which, in turn, may be caused by dysfunctional
proteoglycans, or interaction with the scleral collagen, or both.
