Purpose
Human tissues are important in vision research since they serve as a “Proof of Concept” for the findings derived from experimental models for age-related ocular diseases including glaucoma. The unique anatomy of human aqueous outflow tract makes it a mainstay for glaucoma research. The present study was to develop methods to identify glaucoma by examining the optic nerve head (ONH) of donor eyes, especially when information on preexisting ocular disease was unavailable in India.
Methods
The ONH of the donor eyes was evaluated under stereomicroscope for cup-disc ratio (CDR) and focal rim thinning was noted. The vertical diameter of the cup and disc was also measured using a pre-calibrated eye piece micrometer. The eyes suspected of glaucoma were subjected to histological analysis to confirm the presence of specific glaucomatous changes.
Results
A total of 202 eyes from 119 donors (68 males & 51 females, 42 to 96 years) were evaluated for glaucoma. Among them, 190 (94%) eyes showed CDR in the range of 0.0 to 0.6 and the remaining eyes CDR more than 0.6. The calculated mean CDR of non-glaucomatous and the glaucoma-suspect groups were found to be 0.3+/-0.16 and 0.62+/-0.27 respectively and it was significantly different (p=0.0003). Out of 12 eyes suspected for glaucoma, seven eyes from five donors showed specific glaucomatous changes by histology. The prevalence of glaucoma was 4.2% among the donors studied.
Conclusions
The present study described a simple method of screening fresh donor eyes for selecting those with glaucoma features using CDR and histological analysis. This method would help us to obtain biologically active human ocular tissues for glaucoma research on gene expression, ultra structural/ proteome changes and outflow mechanism.
Keywords: 627 optic disc •
638 pathology: human