Drainage Channels in the Trabecular Wall of Schlemm's Canal.

THE detailed structure of the trabecular wall of Schlemm's canal in man has previously been illustrated by means of teased flat preparations and thin paraffin sections (Speakman, 1959a, b). Features of interest were deep grooves lined with endothelial cells, openings 5-10 u in diameter which communicated with deeper spaces in the meshwork, and numerous vacuoles or spaces in the endothelial cells lining the canal. Gross vacuolation was also found in the corneal endothelium, where it was shown to be the result ofpost-mortem degeneration, and it was suggested that the trabecular endothelium might undergo similar degenerative changes. In order to interpret more accurately the significance of the endothelial cell morphology, a further examination of this region has been made in both monkey and human eyes employing rapid fixation to prevent post-mortem artefacts.