1e:T43b,In population studies taste sensitivity for phenylthiourea (phenylthiocarbamide or PTC) has been found to be distributed bimodally. In Caucasian groups approximately 30% were found to be relatively insensitive to the bitter taste of PTC and were classified as nontasters.^1,2In Negroes a much lower prevalence of nontasters has been reported.^3,4Evidence has been accumulated that nontasters are homozygous for a single recessive gene.⁵The ability to taste phenylthiourea has been used as a convenient genetic marker, and associations have been reported between taste insensitivity to PTC and nodular goiter,^2,6cretinism,^7,8and diabetes.⁹ The primary glaucomas, both angle-closure and open-angle, have been reported to be genetically determined diseases.^10-13The association between PTC taste insensitivity and primary glaucomas has been studied, and it is the subject of this report.

Method

Solutions of phenylthiourea were prepared in the manner described by Harris and Kalmus.¹Solution1f:T40d,Histologic sections of the trabecular meshwork of eyes with primary open-angle glaucoma have been found to stain for γ-globulin.¹Plasma cells were also found in the trabecular meshwork of such glaucomatous eyes. An independent careful study of trephine buttons from glaucomatous eyes revealed similar cells.² This paper reports on the incidence both of γ-globulin and of plasma cells in a larger series of trephine buttons and eyes from patients with primary chronic open-angle glaucoma.

Material and Methods

Fifty-two trephine buttons* from patients with chronic simple open-angle glaucoma were fixed in neutral formalin or Stieve's solution, embedded in paraffin and sectioned. In addition 28 enucleated or autopsy eyes* with proved chronic simple open-angle glaucoma and 65 routine autopsy eyes were available for study. All specimens included in this study were from patients with bilateral glaucoma and no evidence whatsoever of secondary glaucoma or complicating factors (prior cataract or glaucoma

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References