Summary
The fine structure of retinal capillaries was studied on eyes from a post-mortem human and many albino rats in various normal and increased conditions of permeability with special attention to extracellular substance as revealed by ruthenium red staining. In the human eyes and normal rat eyes, the endothelial cells are covered by a layer of ruthenium red-bound deposit in a different width. When histamine was applied into the posterior segment of eyes after the anterior segment was removed, the basal lamina which was stained with the dye, was markedly expanded in width. This finding was confirmed from statistical study of ratios of a certain width of the basal lamina against a supposed radius of the capillary in various conditions. At the interendothelial junction, a slight expansion of the gap was found. But, no sufficient evidence to show difference in their permeability was obtained on the luminal surface. The present results may indicate that acid mucopolysaccharide components of the basal lamina are able transitorily to reserve the fluid which passed through the endothelium.
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Supported in part by Research Grant of the Takeda Science Foundation.
Read before the Japanese Ophthalmology Association at the 75th Annual meeting, Tokyo, April 3, 1971.
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Matsusaka, T. The fine structure of retinal capillaries in normal and increased permeability as revealed by ruthenium red staining. Albrecht v. Graefes Arch. klin. exp. Ophthal. 183, 140–151 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00407179
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00407179