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Chapter C2 The Vitreous Humor

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Handbook of Biomaterial Properties

Abstract

The vitreous humor, also termed vitreous body, vitreus, or vitreous, is a clear and transparent mass (gel or liquid or a mixture of both) that fills the posterior cavity of the eye in vertebrates, between the lens and the retina.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Queensland Eye Institute, 140 Melbourne Street, South Brisbane, QLD, 4101, Australia

    Traian V. Chirila

  2. Cooper Vision, Inc., Pleasanton, CA, 94588, USA

    Ye Hong

Authors
  1. Traian V. Chirila
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  2. Ye Hong
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Traian V. Chirila .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomedical Engineering and Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation, University of Wisconsin Department of Biomedical Engineering and, MADISON, Wisconsin, USA

    William Murphy

  2. King of Prussia, Principal: IMN Biomaterials King of Prussia, King of Prussia, PA, New York, USA

    Jonathan Black

  3. Staffordshire University (Emeritus), Lyme, Staffordshire, United Kingdom

    Garth Hastings

Additional Reading

Additional Reading

Balazs, E.A. (1968) The molecular biology of the vitreous, in New and Controversial Aspects of Retinal Detachment (ed A. McPherson), Harper & Row, New York, pp. 3–15.

This is a landmark paper on the nature of the vitreous body, describing the “mechanochemical” (or “double-network”) model. This model explains satisfactorily the correlations between some properties of the vitreous (composition, rheology, volume, cell population, transparency) and the physicochemical principles governing its stability (frictional interaction, expansion/contraction, the excluded-volume concept, and the molecular-sieve effect).

Berman, E.R. and Voaden, M. (1970) The vitreous body, in Biochemistry of the Eye (ed C.N. Graymore), Academic Press, London, pp. 373–471.

A comprehensive summary of knowledge at that time on animal and human vitreous humor, including development, chemical composition, metabolism, and aging effects.

Shields, J. A. (1976) Pathology of the vitreous, in Current Concepts of the Vitreous Including Vitrectomy (ed K.A. Gitter), C.V. Mosby Co., St. Louis, pp. 14–42.

This book chapter presents competently the pathologic vitreous, including developmental abnormalities, inflammation, hemorrhage, effects of trauma, systemic diseases, and degenerative processes.

Gloor, B.P. (1987) The vitreous, in Adler’s Physiology of the Eye, 8th edn (eds R.A. Moses and W.M. Hart), C.V. Mosby Co., St. Louis, pp. 246–267.

A concise description of all aspects of the vitreous humor, including properties, development, anatomy, structure, biochemistry, metabolism, and pathology.

Sebag, J. (1989) The Vitreous. Structure, Function, and Pathology, Springer-Verlag, New York.

This is probably only the second single-authored book in this century to be dedicated entirely to the topic of vitreous humor, written by the leading scholar in the field. It is a well-structured and updated compendium. The first half of the book is dedicated to structure, properties, and physiology of the vitreous. Pathology of the vitreous is analyzed in the other half from a biological angle. Although a clinician, the author manages to avoid typical clinical descriptions and to provide a text which integrates the basic scientific knowledge for both clinicians and scientists.

Williams, G.A. and Blumenkranz, M.S. (1992), Vitreous humor, in Duane’s Foundations of Clinical Ophthalmology, vol. 2 (eds W. Tasman and E.A. Jaeger), J.B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia, chapter 11.

This chapter (27 pages) presents the modern concepts in the pathophysiologic mechanisms of vitreous diseases, and in the clinical conditions involving the vitreous (detachment, macular holes and membranes, diabetes, proliferative vitreoretinopathy, hyalosis, amyloidosis). Aspects such as separation of the vitreous from the retina and traction of the vitreous by hypocellular gel contraction are explained according to the most recent findings.

Lund-Andersen, H., Sebag, J., Sander, B. and la Cour, M. (2006) The vitreous, in The Biology of the Eye (ed J. Fischbarg), Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 181–94.

A concise but very informative text covering all aspects of the vitreous humor.

Lund-Andersen, H. and Sander, B. (2011) The vitreous, in Adler’s Physiology of the Eye, 11th edn (eds L.A. Levin et al.), Elsevier, Edinburgh, pp. 164–81.

The most recent chapter on the vitreous humor to appear in the traditional textbook, covering the modern views on this part of the eye, and emphasizing biophysical and physiological aspects.

Sebag, J. and Green, W.R. (2013) Vitreous and vitreoretinal surface, in Retina, 5th edn (ed S.J. Ryan), vol. 1, part 2, Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 482–516.

A concise, update, and beautifully written account of the current knowledge of the vitreous humor, providing a balanced presentation of the structure, anatomy, physiology, and pathology of the vitreous and of its interface with the retina. This chapter in the classical monumental treatise displays also remarkable graphics.

Recommended sources for ophthalmic terminology:

Cassin, B., Solomon, S.A.B. and Rubin, M.L. (1990) Dictionary of Eye Terminology, 2nd edn, Triad Publishing Co., Gainesville, FL, 286 pp.

Stein, H.A., Slatt, B.J. and Stein, R.M. (1992) Ophthalmic Terminology. Speller and Vocabulary Builder, 3rd edn, Mosby-Year Book Inc., St. Louis, MO, pp. 3–33, 183–198, 275–278.

Myles, W.M. (1993) Ophthalmic etymology. Surv. Ophthalmol., 37, 306–9.

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Chirila, T.V., Hong, Y. (2016). Chapter C2 The Vitreous Humor. In: Murphy, W., Black, J., Hastings, G. (eds) Handbook of Biomaterial Properties. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3305-1_12

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