Knupp, Carlo, Pinali, Christian, Lewis, Philip, Parfitt, Geraint John, Young, Robert David, Meek, Keith Michael Andrew and Quantock, Andrew James 2009. The architecture of the cornea and structural basis of its transparency. In: McPherson, A. ed. Advances in Protein Chemistry and Structural Biology, Vol. 78. London: Academic Press, pp. 25-49. (10.1016/S1876-1623(08)78002-7) |
Abstract
The cornea is the transparent connective tissue window at the front of the eye. In the extracellular matrix of the corneal stroma, hybrid type I/V collagen fibrils are remarkably uniform in diameter atapproximately 30 nm and are regularly arranged into a pseudolattice. Fibrils are believed to be kept at defined distances by the influence of proteoglycans. Light entering the cornea is scattered by the collagen fibrils, but their spatial distribution is such that the scattered light interferes destructively in all directions except from the forward direction. In this way, light travels forward through the cornea to reach the retina. In this chapter, we will review the macromolecular components of the corneal stroma, the way they are organized into a stacked lamellar array, and how this organization guarantees corneal transparency.
Item Type: | Book Section |
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Date Type: | Publication |
Status: | Published |
Schools: | Optometry and Vision Sciences |
Subjects: | R Medicine > RE Ophthalmology |
Publisher: | Academic Press |
ISBN: | 9780123748270 |
ISSN: | 18761623 |
Related URLs: | |
Last Modified: | 06 Aug 2020 14:32 |
URI: | https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/23097 |
Citation Data
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