Structure of the Vitreous

Possible contribution of hyalocytes to idiopathic epiretinal membrane formation and its contraction

“…While the alteration in visual acuity is often caused by the contraction of ERM, not simply by the presence of the ERM itself, the precise mechanisms of ERM contraction are not fully understood to date. We and others previously reported that hyalocytes may play a role in the pathogenesis of proliferative-vitreoretinal disease through its myofibroblastic transdifferentiation 10 11 12 13 14 20. Therefore, we further hypothesised that hyalocytes involved in the residual outer layer of the posterior vitreous cortex after anomalous PVD with vitreoschisis might play a role not only in ERM formation but also in its contraction.…”

“…It would also be important that the first demonstration of phase-contrast and electron-microscopy images of human vitreous hyalocytes was in 1989 10. Accumulating evidence indicates that the hyalocytes, considered to be one of the macrophage lineages, appear to be associated with the pathogenesis of various vitreoretinal diseases including proliferative vitreoretinopathy with its myofibroblastic transdifferentiation 11 12 13 14.…”

Ultra-Wide Field Fundus Autofluorescence Imaging of Eyes With Stickler Syndrome

“… 17 No mechanism has been suggested to explain how the retinal degeneration progresses in Stickler syndrome. A strong adhesion is inherent between the vitreous and retinal vessels, 21 and a pathologic vitreoretinal interface is known to exert traction on the retina in eyes with Stickler syndrome. 22 One possibility is that trauma due to the traction on the retinal vessels leads to secondary retinal degeneration.…”

Time dependent degradation of vitreous gel under enzymatic reaction: Polymeric network role in fluid properties

“…Vitreous humor is a clear gel that occupies approximately two thirds of the volume of the eye globe. Studying the structure of the vitreous gel (Sebag, 1989c), its roles in the functions of the eye (Sebag, 1989a) and in the pathology of vitreoretinal diseases (Sebag, 1989b), were brought to attention in the late 1900s. Prior to which it was thought vitreous does not play an important role within the eye globe (Foulds, 1987).…”

“…The network of the vitreous gel has two main biopolymers, collagen and hyaluronic acid (HA) (Sebag, 1989c;Yadav et al, 2015). Collagen has high tensile strength and HA provides a network to support the collagen fibrils within the vitreous (Friess, 1998;Lee et al, 2001;Yadav et al, 2015).…”