The zonula, lens, and circumlental space in the normal iridectomized rhesus monkey eye.

PURPOSE To document zonular orientation and suspension of the lens during accommodation, and age-related changes of the circumlental space (CLS) at rest and during accommodation, in living iridectomized rhesus monkey eyes. METHODS The CLS was measured in 34 iridectomized eyes of 24 living rhesus monkeys, age 5.7 to 26 years, in the resting and accommodated state, and the orientation of the zonula and suspension of the lens during accommodation was assessed qualitatively. RESULTS The nonaccommodated CLS decreased significantly with age in both the nasal and temporal quadrants and tended to do so at a slightly faster rate in the temporal quadrant. The CLS correlated significantly with the accommodative amplitude: the greater the CLS the greater the accommodative amplitude. Multiple regression analysis indicated that age and CLS together are better predictors of accommodative amplitude than is age alone. The zonula appeared taut in the nonaccommodated eye throughout the age range despite the age-related decline in CLS. CONCLUSIONS Characterization of age-related changes in the accommodative apparatus may help to model the system for hypothesis testing. The CLS may be an indicator of presbyopia-related processes in surrounding tissues. However, these results do not prove that the width of the CLS, in and of itself, has a causal relationship with accommodative amplitude, or that changes in the CLS play a pathophysiological role in presbyopia.

[1]  Robert J. Lee,et al.  THE MECHANISM OF ACCOMMODATION. , 1895 .

[2]  W. Peddie,et al.  Helmholtz's Treatise on Physiological Optics , 1924, Nature.

[3]  James P. C. Southall,et al.  Mechanism of accommodation. , 1924 .

[4]  R. Scammon,et al.  GROWTH IN MASS AND VOLUME OF THE HUMAN LENS IN POSTNATAL LIFE , 1937 .

[5]  C BERENS,et al.  The aging eye. , 1946, New York medicine.

[6]  H. Helmholtz.  Helmholtz's Treatise on Physiological Optics , 1963 .

[7]  Arnold Sorsby,et al.  ULtrasonographic measurement of the components of ocular refraction in life: 2. Clinical procedures: Ultrasonographic measurements compared with phakometric measurements in a series of 140 eyes , 1963 .

[8]  R. Fisher.  Elastic constants of the human lens capsule , 1969, The Journal of physiology.

[9]  R. Fisher.  The elastic constants of the human lens , 1971, The Journal of physiology.

[10]  N. Brown.  An advanced slit-image camera. , 1972, The British journal of ophthalmology.

[11]  P. Kaufman,et al.  Total iridectomy in the primate in vivo: surgical technique and postoperative anatomy. , 1975, Investigative ophthalmology.

[12]  R F Fisher,et al.  The force of contraction of the human ciliary muscle during accommodation , 1977, The Journal of physiology.

[13]  P. Farnsworth,et al.  Anterior zonular shifts with age. , 1979, Experimental eye research.

[14]  P. Kaufman,et al.  Age-dependent loss of accommodative amplitude in rhesus monkeys: an animal model for presbyopia. , 1982, Investigative ophthalmology & visual science.

[15]  Jane F. Koretz,et al.  Analysis of human crystalline lens curvature as a function of accommodative state and age , 1984, Vision Research.

[16]  J F Koretz,et al.  How the human eye focuses. , 1988, Scientific American.

[17]  Paul L. Kaufman,et al.  Reproducible stimulation of ciliary muscle contraction in the cynomolgus monkey via a permanent indwelling midbrain electrode , 1989, Brain Research.

[18]  P. Kaufman,et al.  In vivo videography of the rhesus monkey accommodative apparatus. Age-related loss of ciliary muscle response to central stimulation. , 1990, Archives of ophthalmology.

[19]  G. Vrensen,et al.  Morphology of the aging human lens. II. Ultrastructure of clear lenses. , 1990, Lens and eye toxicity research.

[20]  J. Rohen,et al.  Posterior attachment of ciliary muscle in young, accommodating old, presbyopic monkeys. , 1991, Investigative ophthalmology & visual science.

[21]  Schachar Ra,et al.  Cause and treatment of presbyopia with a method for increasing the amplitude of accommodation. , 1992 .

[22]  P. Kaufman,et al.  Age-related loss of ciliary muscle mobility in the rhesus monkey. Role of the choroid. , 1992, Archives of ophthalmology.

[23]  Johannes W. Rohen,et al.  Age-related changes of the human ciliary muscle. A quantitative morphometric study , 1992, Mechanisms of Ageing and Development.

[24]  R. Weale,et al.  Presbyopia - a maverick of human aging. , 1995, Archives of gerontology and geriatrics.

[25]  T. D. Black,et al.  The mechanism of accommodation and presbyopia in the primate , 1995 .

[26]  T. D. Black,et al.  In vivo increase of the human lens equatorial diameter during accommodation. , 1996, The American journal of physiology.

[27]  M. Campbell,et al.  Presbyopia and the optical changes in the human crystalline lens with age , 1998, Vision Research.

[28]  J L Semmlow,et al.  Age-related changes in human ciliary muscle and lens: a magnetic resonance imaging study. , 1999, Investigative ophthalmology & visual science.

[29]  M. Campbell,et al.  Biometric, optical and physical changes in the isolated human crystalline lens with age in relation to presbyopia , 1999, Vision Research.

[30]  A. Moore,et al.  The lens , 2021, Eye.

[31]  M. Croft,et al.  Ultrasound Biomicroscopy of the Aging Rhesus Monkey Ciliary Region , 2001, Optometry and vision science : official publication of the American Academy of Optometry.

[32]  P. Kaufman,et al.  Aging of the human crystalline lens and presbyopia. , 2001, International ophthalmology clinics.

[33]  R. Schachar,et al.  Mechanism of Accommodation , 2001, International ophthalmology clinics.

[34]  R. Truscott,et al.  Massive increase in the stiffness of the human lens nucleus with age: the basis for presbyopia? , 2004, Molecular vision.

[35]  H. Pau,et al.  The increasing sclerosis of the human lens with age and its relevance to accommodation and presbyopia , 2004, Graefe's Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology.

[36]  P. Kaufman,et al.  Accommodative ciliary body and lens function in rhesus monkeys, I: normal lens, zonule and ciliary process configuration in the iridectomized eye. , 2006, Investigative ophthalmology & visual science.

[37]  J. Collignon,et al.  Morphological Changes of the Lens with Age and Cataract , 2008 .