The Structural Role of Elastic Fibers in the Cornea Investigated Using a Mouse Model for Marfan Syndrome.

Purpose: The presence of fibrillin-rich elastic fibers in the cornea has been overlooked in recent years. The aim of the current study was to elucidate their functional role using a mouse model for Marfan syndrome, defective in fibrillin-1, the major structural component of the microfibril bundles that constitute most of the elastic fibers.

Methods: Mouse corneas were obtained from animals with a heterozygous fibrillin-1 mutation (Fbn1+/-) and compared to wild type controls.

Fetal Bowel Dilatation: A Sonographic Sign of Uncertain Prognosis.

Fetal bowel dilatation is an indirect sonographic sign of mechanical or functional bowel obstruction. The etiology of fetal bowel dilatation is a difficult prenatal diagnosis since ultrasound has limited accuracy for bowel evaluation. The authors describe a case of fetal bowel dilatation diagnosed in the third trimester.