Vascular and glial changes in the retrolaminar optic nerve in glaucomatous monkey eyes.

Vascular and glial changes of the retrolaminar optic nerve were studied in monkey eyes with increased intraocular pressure (IOP) from 1 to 4 years and with different stages of optic nerve atrophy. In histological cross-sections of retrolaminar optic nerves of 11 rhesus and 6 cynomolgus monkeys the entire area, number of axons and vessels and area of pial septa were quantitated and three different kinds of nerve degeneration classified. Ultrathin sections of these different stages were performed and the number of open and occluded vessels was determined.

Ultrastructural changes in the trabecular meshwork of juvenile glaucoma.

Trabeculectomy specimens from 11 patients with juvenile glaucoma were studied by electron microscopy and quantitatively evaluated. In all cases, large amounts of extracellular material arranged in a fingerprint-like pattern, resembling basement-membrane-like material (FBM) was found, similar to that described in steroid-induced glaucoma. This material was found mainly within the inner cribriform and outer corneoscleral regions of the trabecular meshwork, and caused the cribriform layer to be greatly thickened.