Ultrastructural appearances of a lens with marked polychromatic lustre: evidence for diffraction as a cause.

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Abstract
A human lens showing polychromatic luster associated with cortical opacities (Christmas tree cataract) was examined by slit-lamp photography, thin-section light microscopy, and EM. Anterior epithelial cells were fibroblast-like, and an area of breakdown of cortical lens fibers was observed in the anterior lens, containing feathery fibers, whorls, and process bodies. Parallel sided stacks of fused cell membranes were found beneath the watery area at the same depth as the polychromatic luster seen in the slit-lamp. The dimensions of these membrane plates are consistent with the diffraction of light by a parallel thin film to give colored points of light. Deeper areas of small granules between the lens fibers are associated with the main trunk-like opacity and its branches seen with the slit-lamp.