The ultrastructural study of the vitreoretinal juncture was carried out by comparing two groups of patients: 6 young subjects under 25 years and 6 older subjects over 70. Retinal samples were taken from the posterior pole, the equator and the extreme periphery. Our work shows that the morphological modifications of the vitreoretinal juncture during the aging process vary following location. The most original alteration, never observed before, appears in the equatorial region: it consists of a widening of the intercell space filled with fibrils adhering to MÜller’s cells. It builds up an adhesion zone between the vitreous and the retina which is not visible during clinical investigations; it can create a tear during the posterior vitreous detachment.
En dehors des globes atteints de fibroplasie retro-lenticulaire, l'oeil du pr6ma-tur6 n'a suscit6 que peu de travaux histo-pathologiques. Le sujet ne manque pourtant pas d'int6r~t aussi bien sur le plan th6orique de l'embryologie que sur le plan pratique des conditions prddisposantes h la F.R.L. Nous avons pu prati-
The ultrastructural study of a case of snail track degeneration shows the presence of lipid inclusions in both the glial and the macrophage cells in every layer of the retina, and the existence of intraretinal fibers different from collagen fibers appearing to be glial filaments similar to those found in astrocytic gliomes and to the Rosenthal fibers observed in senile nervous cells. Other features were thinning of the retina and absence of blood vessels in the retina. There are no abnormalities of the vitreo-retinal juncture. All the lesions are in agreement with those observed by Daicker [Ophthalmologica, Basel 165: 360–365, 1972; Klin. Mbl. Augenheilk. 172: 581–583, 1978] with some differences, however. They are different from those found in lattice degeneration, they show that snail track degeneration is a specific from of peripheral retinal degeneration which is quite different from lattice degeneration and must not be considered similar.
Three cases of ocular candidosis involving heroin abusers have been observed in 1983 in Toulouse department of ophthalmology. These three patients had used iranian brown heroin. Twenty similar cases have been published in these last years. This new pathology can be explained on two reasons. The first is that the drug abusers have some immunity pertubation; however, immunity exploration in these patients does not reveal any immunodeficiency. The second reason, certainly more important, is the method of using heroin. The diagnosis of Candida endophthalmitis of course based on clinical context must be proved by biological tests. Candida albicans is never identified in aqueous humor. For this reason, it seems very interesting to detect anti-candida antibodies in aqueous humor. It has been used as methods of dosage laser Nephelemetry for IgG and immunofluorescence for candidosis antibodies. The criterion used is similar to the toxoplasmosis coefficient established by Desmonts (3). In two cases, this test was the only way that permits us to have certitude of candidosis ocular diagnosis. Otherwise the observations show that anterior chamber punction is more significant when there is an anterior uveitis.
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