Wendy Harrison OD PhD FAAO

1) Purpose of the lens

2) Embryology
3) Lens layers
4) Lens gone wrong (aka cataracts)
1) Refract light
2) Accommodation

The lens is cool because it contains some of

the oldest cells in the body- valuable for
research purposes.
 The lens is thinnest and flattest when focused
at infinity
Contraction of the ciliary muscle of the ciliary
body releases tension on the zonules and the
lens capsule. The allows the lens to be more
convex on the anterior surface
This gives the lens more power
The lens has a refractive power of about 20D
 Biconvex- advantageous for power reasons
Steeper posteriorly
The radius of curvature of the anterior
surface is 8-14 um
The radius of curvature of the posterior
surface is 5-8 um
 Unaccommodated 3.5-5 mm
It continues to grow larger throughout life
 Poles are the center of the anterior and
posterior surface of the lens.
The thickness of the lens is measured pole to
pole.
The lens thickness changes with age and
accommodation.
The circumferencial area midway between
the poles is the equator.
Anterior Chamber

Vitreous

Remington
 The lens sits in the posterior chamber.
It is suspended by zonules at the equator
that also attach to the ciliary body.
Is surrounded by an elastic capsule.
 To understand what you see in the lens, you
must understand how it develops.
Embryological features of the lens remain
present in adulthood.
 Optic
chiasm
Mesoderm
Muscles and some mesenchyme
mesenchyme = CT, dermis, blood vessels

Ectoderm
Surface and neural divisions

Endoderm
No contribution to ocular structures
 Neural Ectoderm = optic vesicle, optic cup,
retina, RPE, pigmented/nonpigmented
epithelium of the ciliary body and iris
= neural crest is part of the neural ectoderm
that sits by the mesoderm.

Surface Ectoderm = lens, epithelial layer of

cornea

Mesoderm = sclera, choroid, cornea stroma,

ciliary body, iris
webvision.med.utah.edu
1) A thickening surface ectodermal cells
(known as the lens placode) invaginates
2) It forms a sphere which is hallow and known
as the lens vesicle.
3) This means that the apical surface of the
lens epithelial cells are inside toward the
lumen and the basal surface is on the
outside
Adam via Hafner
 There are a series of growth rings that then
form around the outside (think tree trunk)
The cells continue to divide but they never
slough off.

The anterior epithelium become the lens

epithelium.
The posterior epithelium then differentiate
and become primary lens fibers.
 Differentiation happens at the apical surface.
The cells elongate anteriorly and fill up the
lens.
This gets rid of the lumen of the vesicle.
This forms the embryonic lens nucleus. This
happens at about 2 months gestation.
Adam
Hafner
Remington
 The secondary lens fibers form beginning
with alteration of the cells from cuboidal to
columnar.
The columnar cells (epithelial) migrate
posterior, then rotate and elongate.
This forms the secondary lens fibers
These are added concentrically throughout
life.
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 Is around the embryonic nucleus and includes all
secondary fibers created before birth
The meeting of the ends of the elongated lens
fibers produces a pattern Y
These are the anterior and posterior lens sutures.
During lens development there is a network of
blood vessels that surround the lens. This is
known as the tunica vasculosa lentis. It is a
branch of the hyloid artery. It is gone by birth.
 Hyloid Artery
PPM; hyloid artery + long ciliary arteries =
pupillary membrane which sits in front of the
lens.
Usually gone before birth
PPM- indian joural opthalmol
 Are junctures between secondary lens fibers
There is not a Y suture in the embryonic
nucleus
The sutures are in the fetal nucleus
The are oriented at 60, 180 and 300 degrees
anteriorly and 0, 120, and 240 posterior
This orientation of fibers is produced until
birth
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 After birth, symmetric but non identical
sutures are produced
In the cortex a 9 branch star pattern is
produced with a branch every 40 degrees.
30
H. Riley
 find picture put here

Molvis.com
33
 Young fibers are uniform
Young fibers are hexagonal prism shaped
The two broader sides are oriented parallel to the
lens surface.
The four other sides are at acute angles to the
lens surface
As the fibers move deeper into the lens they lose
their nucleus and organelles
There are fingerlike projections that occur
superficially to attach fibers together like a ball
and socket.
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 Remington
37
 A single layer of cubodial cells
It is adjacent to the anterior lens capsule
These cells have a nucleus and organelles
Divided into 2 zones
1) Germinative zone- mitosis, elongation,
and differentiation
2) Not the Germinative zone- cells dont divide
(central zone)
 This single layer of cells does most of the
metabolic activity for the whole lens
Gap junctions allow communication between
cells.
They have distinct cell membranes (lateral
apical and basal)
The epithelial-fiber interface is the region
where the apical membranes of the epithelial
cells meets the apical membrane of the
elongated fibers.
 Is the source for new lens fibers. This is
where they come from.
The displace toward
the equator
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 The lens is 66% water and 33% protein
This is twice as much protein as the average
tissue.
There are no blood vessels in the lens
There are no nerves in the lens
The cells divide but do not shed
 Have the lowest turnover rate of all proteins in
the body.
Because most lens cells have lost the ability to
make new proteins
Most are water soluble crystallins (90%)
They are tightly packed
The concentration of crystallins increases as you
move in 15% in the cortex and 70% in the adult
nucleus.
They are made by cubodial cells (anterior) and
also by lens fiber cells.
 The capsule is the elastic bag that holds the
lens.
It is acellular
Produced continuously
The thickest basement membrane in the
body
made of collagen and GAG
Made by the lens epithelium and by the
elongating fibers
It is thicker at the anterior pole than posterior
Thicker where zonules insert than at poles
 maintain lens shape through relationship
with ciliary body and zonules
restrict movement of high molecular weight
items into the lens.
 Has two layers
Inner and outer
inner layer sit by the anterior lens epithelium
outer layers merges with the zonule of zinn
 it suspends the lens into the visual axis
complex network of elastic fibers
The fibers come from the basement membrane
of the nonpigmented epithelium of the pars
plana
They move through the valleys between the
ciliary processes
The two major sets of fibers fuse with the outer
lens capsule approximately 1.5 mm anterior and
posterior to the equator
The other fibers fuse directly to the equator
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Figure 12-21: Lens zonules in
longitudinal & cross-section
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 The lens is usually described as an inner
nuclear region and an outer cortical region.
This is how you should describe it in the
clinic.
The adult nucleus contains fibers formed
from birth until sexual maturity
The cortex contains secondary fibers from
sexual maturity on.
 Clouding of the lens.
Generally named by the layer of the lens that
has the disturbance in clarity.
nuclear, cortical, or posterior sub capsular
are the most common kinds.