A comparison of ocular development of the Cynomolgus monkey and man

Abstract

Summary – 1. We set out to compare the ocular development of human and monkey. 2. Regular periodic measurements of refractive error, central corneal curvature and axial length were made on 30 eyes of 15 young cynomologus monkeys Macaca fascicularis aged between 15 weeks and 3 years. 3. Measurements were also made on 16 eyes of 13 adolescent and adult monkeys aged between 3 and 12 years. 4. Comparison of the growth of the eyes of monkeys and humans supports the view that 1 year in a monkey’s life is equivalent to about 3 years for a human and that this relationship is maintained during the developmental years. 5. The relative contributions of axial length components to the total axial length and the relationship between the refractive components of the eye are similar for monkeys and humans. 6. These results suggest that the monkey eye should serve as an excellent model for that of the human in studies of growth of the eye.