The Structure of the Vitreous Body and the Suspensory Ligaments of the Lens

Abstract

Several striking morphologic characteristics of the vitreous body combine to make it a unique tissue that has long excited the interest of anatomists and clinicians. These include its paucity of cells and abundance of intercellular materials, its avascularity, its peculiar consistency, and its remarkable transparency. The methods used to demonstrate the structure of the vitreous body have always aroused criticism. The techniques employed have included macroscopic observation of fresh and fixed tissues, histologic study of stained sections, slit-lamp biomicroscopy of the living eye, and ultramicroscopic * examination. The structural framework that was observed with histologic techniques was often dismissed as some form of precipitation artifact. The biomicroscope, introduced near the beginning of this century, enabled the clinician to examine the living tissue. A structural material often described as "sheetlike" in appearance was observed. Unfortunately, the difficulties inherent in producing an acceptable objective demonstration of this skeletal material resulted in a belief