@article{0d0a8a0c772646d5bd4c74cf8b926c44,
title = "Quantitative study of collagen and elastin of the optic nerve head and sclera in human and experimental monkey glaucoma",
abstract = "Quantitative studies of collagen density and fibril size distribution as well as elastin density were carried out in the optic nerve head and sclera of human and experimental monkey glaucoma eyes. The collagen fibrils of the normal lamina cribrosa are smaller and more uniform in size than those of the sclera. This feature may be an adaptation to maximize either elasticity or resistance to mechanical stress. In glaucomatous nerve heads, there is a major disruption of the structure of the lamina cribrosa beam structure, including a decrease in collagen density. The peripapillary sclera undergoes similar collagen density changes to those in the nerve head in human glaucoma eyes. Elastin fiber density is unchanged in the glaucomatous nerve heads that we studied.",
author = "Quigley, {Harry A.} and Dorman-Pease, {Mary Ellen} and Brown, {Andrew E.}",
note = "Funding Information: noticeably different in normal and glaucoma tissues. There may, in fact, be no pathological change: however, the tannic acid staining, while making elastin fibers more visible, darkens the fiber core so that fine structural detail is obscured. It may be worthwhile to study similar tissue without tannic acid staining. In glaucoma specimens that are studied by light microscopic histochemistry, elastin fibers are curled, like sine waves, instead of having their normal, straight appearance (13). We also found that elastin fibers in both monkey and human glaucoma tissues were separated from their normally close contact with fibrillar collagen in the laminar beams. This may indicate that elastin is effectively disinserted from the connective tissue matrix. The curled appearance could result from the elastic fibers recoiling to a position of relaxation, as would a spring released from tension by loss of its points of attachment. The disruption of the collagenous connective tissue and the change in collagen orientation and density reported here are compatible with this hypothesis. This change may relate to the decrease in mechanical compliance measured in vitro among glaucomatous nerve heads (25) ' ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This investigation was supported in part by PHS Research Grants EY 02120, EY 01765, by National Glaucoma Research, a program of the American Health Assistance Foundation, Rockville, Maryland, and by a Senior Investigator Award from Research to Prevent Blindness, Inc., New York, New York.",
year = "1991",
doi = "10.3109/02713689109013884",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "10",
pages = "877--888",
journal = "Current Eye Research",
issn = "0271-3683",
publisher = "Informa Healthcare",
number = "9",
}