ON THE ULTRASTRUCTURE AND THE FORMATION OF PSEUDO-EXFOLIATION MATERIAL

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Abstract
Pseudoexfoliation (PE) excrescences on the [human] anterior lens surface were studied by EM. In some cases the superficial layer of the excrescences consisted of a meshwork of fibrils and filamentous subfibrillar units. The fibrils were formed by lateral aggregation of filamentous units. The filaments and fibrils had crossbands regularly spaced at 17 nm. In some fibrils every 3rd crossband was fainter than the neighboring crossbands; thereby a secondary periodicity appeared, the new period consisting of 3 crossbands in the order dense-faint-dense. The length of this period was 17 .times. 3 = 51 nm, i.e., the same as the distance between the crossbands of conventional PE fibrils. All transitional forms between the fibrils with 17 nm periodicity and the conventional PE fibrils were found. There was a gradual transition between the material described and conventional PE material. The material on the surface of the PE excrescences apparently represents newly formed PE material. This may be formed by condensation and linear polymerization of 2 kinds ofunits, corresponding to the dense and the faint crossbands.