TITLE:
Structure of vitreous body and its relationship with liquefaction
AUTHORS:
Makoto Kodama, Toyoaki Matsuura, Yoshiaki Hara
KEYWORDS:
Vitreous Body; Liquefaction; Crystallin
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Biomedical Science and Engineering,
Vol.6 No.7,
July
18,
2013
ABSTRACT:
The
aim of the study is to clarify the vitreous body structure and liquefaction
phenomena. It was found that when melting a frozen rabbit vitreous body, the
gel-sol transition phenomenon occurs and the gel structure is broken. This is
almost like the liquefaction of the vitreous body in vivo. We try to clarify the liquefaction phenomenon by using
this animal model. The native vitreous body has three dimensional meshwork
structures. After liquefaction, it is changed into two parts, namely fiber
aggregates and soluble amorphous aggregates. The surface of native vitreous
body meshwork is mucopolysacharide, but that of fiber
aggregates after liquefaction is changed into connective tissue, which means
the conformational change of vitreous body in liquefaction. The soluble
proteins after liquefaction were analyzed and identified as crystallin family. It
is suggested that the liquefaction is induced by detachment of non-collagenous
protein beads containing crystallins, resulting in the collapse of the three dimensional
structure to release watery liquid trapped within. And the new gel-sol
transition model of vitreous bod is proposed.