Laser trabeculotomies produced by directing a pulsed neodymium/YAG laser beam at specimens of human anterior chamber angle obtained post mortem or after enucleation were studied by light microscopy and by scanning and transmission electron microscopy to assess the dimensions of the openings created in the trabecular meshwork, their penetrance to the canal of Schlemm, and the extent or absence o...

The trabecular meshwork and scleral spur of two young human eyes were studied by light and electron microscopy in Epon-embedded material. Anteroposterior sections showed, in light microscopy, numerous dots stained dark purple with Weigert's elastic stain and greenish with Giemsa in both regions. In tilted frontal sections, similarly stained, long, circularly oriented fibers toere observed, indi...

THE site of obstruction to aqueous outflow in chronic simple glaucoma must lie between the anterior chamber and episcleral plexus, yet opinion remains divided between those who believe that the obstruction occurs while aqueous passes through the trabecular meshwork before entering Schlemm's canal and those who believe that it occurs in the scleral plexus beyond the canal. Support is given to th...

Rho kinase (ROCK) inhibitors are a novel potential class of glaucoma therapeutics with multiple compounds currently in Phase II and III US Food and Drug Administration trials in the United States. These selective agents work by relaxing the trabecular meshwork through inhibition of the actin cytoskeleton contractile tone of smooth muscle. This results in increased aqueous outflow directly throu...

Anti-vascular endothelial growth factor agents are frequently used to treat a variety of ocular neovascular diseases. While agents like bevacizumab and ranibizumab appear to be safe and effective, there have been reports of severe intraocular inflammation as well as sustained elevation of intraocular pressure (IOP) after single or multiple intravitreal injections of these protein-based therapeu...

PURPOSE. ATP-sensitive potassium channel (K(ATP)) openers target key cellular events, many of which have been implicated in glaucoma. The authors sought to determine whether K(ATP) channel openers influence outflow facility in human anterior segment culture and intraocular pressure (IOP) in vivo. METHODS. Anterior segments from human eyes were placed in perfusion organ culture and treated with ...

PURPOSE To determine whether preferential pathways exist within the human trabecular meshwork, pigmented and nonpigmented regions adjacent to and between collector channels were examined, and the configuration of the juxtacanalicular tissue (JCT) was analyzed. METHODS Healthy whole human eyes were perfused at 10 or 25 mm Hg with 0.5 mum fluorescent beads. Tissue wedges of pigmented and nonpig...